Quotes by Herbert Read

About Herbert Read:

Sir Herbert Edward Read was an English anarchist, poet and literary critic, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read was co-founder of the Institute of Contemporary Arts. He was one of the earliest English writers to take notice of existentialism.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

But the further step, by means of which a civilization is given its quality or culture, is only attained by a process of cellular division, in the course of which the individual is differentiated, made distinct from and independent of the parent grou...

Herbert Read

The principle of equity first came into evidence in Roman jurisprudence and was derived by analogy from the physical meaning of the word.

Herbert Read

Nobody seriously believes in the social philosophies of the immediate past.

Herbert Read

Man is everywhere still in chains.

Herbert Read

The sense of historical continuity, and a feeling for philosophical rectitude cannot, however, be compromised.

Herbert Read

You might think that it would he the natural desire of every man to develop as an independent personality, but this does not seem to be true.

Herbert Read

A man of personality can formulate ideals, but only a man of character can achieve them.

Herbert Read

In History, stagnant waters, whether they be stagnant waters of custom or those of despotism, harbour no life; life is dependent on the ripples created by a few eccentric individuals. In homage to that life and vitality, the community has to brave ce...

Herbert Read

The most general law in nature is equity-the principle of balance and symmetry which guides the growth of forms along the lines of the greatest structural efficiency.

Herbert Read

I am not going to claim that modern anarchism has any direct relation to Roman jurisprudence; but I do claim that it has its basis in the laws of nature rather than in the state of nature.

Herbert Read

The worth of a civilization or a culture is not valued in the terms of its material wealth or military power, but by the quality and achievements of its representative individuals - its philosophers, its poets and its artists.

Herbert Read

We may be sure that out of the ruins of our capitalist civilization a new religion will emerge, just as Christianity emerged from the ruins of the Roman civilization.

Herbert Read

I call religion a natural authority, but it has usually been conceived as a supernatural authority.

Herbert Read

It is already clear, after twenty years of socialism in Russia, that if you do not provide your society with a new religion, it will gradually revert to the old one.

Herbert Read

My own early experiences in war led me to suspect the value of discipline, even in that sphere where it is so often regarded as the first essential for success.

Herbert Read

Progress is measured by the degree of differentiation within a society.

Herbert Read

The farther a society progresses, the more clearly the individual becomes the antithesis of the group.

Herbert Read

The point I am making is that in the more primitive forms of society the individual is merely a unit; in more developed forms of society he is an independent personality.

Herbert Read

I can imagine no society which does not embody some method of arbitration.

Herbert Read

What I do deny is that you can build any enduring society without some such mystical ethos.

Herbert Read

These groups within a society can he distinguished according as to whether, like an army or an orchestra, they function as a single body; or whether they are united merely to defend their common interests and otherwise function as separate individual...

Herbert Read

Author Bio

  • NameHerbert Read
  • DescriptionEnglish anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art
  • AliasesSir Herbert Edward Read; Herbert Read
  • BornDecember 4, 1893
  • DiedJune 12, 1968
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionArt Historian; Poet; Writer; Philosopher; Anarchist
  • AwardsDistinguished Service Order; Military Cross; Erasmus Prize