#construct

Our house was made of stone, stucco, and clapboard; the newer wings, designed by a big-city architect, had a good deal of glass, and looked out into the Valley, where on good days we could see for many miles while on humid hazy days we could see barely beyond the fence that marked the edge of our property. Father, however, preferred the roof: In his white, light-woolen three-piece suit, white fedora cocked back on his head, for luck, he spent many of his waking hours on the highest peak of the highest roof of the house, observing, through binoculars, the amazing progress of construction in the Valley - for overnight, it seemed, there appeared roads, expressways, sewers, drainage pipes, "planned" communities with such names as Whispering Glades, Murmuring Oaks, Pheasant Run, Deer Willow, all of them walled to keep out intruders, and, yet more astonishing, towerlike buildings of aluminum and glass and steel and brick, buildings whose windows shone and winked like mirrors, splendid in sunshine like pillars of flame; such beauty where once there had been mere earth and sky, it caught at your throat like a great bird's talons, taking your breath away. 'The ways of beauty are as a honeycomb,' Father told us, and none of us could determine, staring at his slow moving lips, whether the truth he spoke was a happy truth or not, whether even it was truth. ("Family") ↗

— Joyce Carol Oates

#planned-community #beauty

Is constructive criticism really constructive? Not really. You can't make a child better by pointing out what you think is wrong with him or her. Criticism either crushes spirit or elicits defensiveness. Constructive criticism is an interesting combination of words. "Construct" means "to build." "Criticism" means "to tear down" It creates defiance and anger as well. ↗

— H. Norman Wright

#anger

Proportion is the heart of beauty. ↗

— Ken Follett

#beauty #construction #proportion #art

Any fool can write a book and most of them are doing it; but it takes brains to build a house. ↗

— Charles F. Lummis

#humor #writing #humor

In trying to find who you are, be less destructive and more constructive. Look at art or whatever your passion is and be productive. ↗

— Nirrimi Joy Hakanson

#identity #life #live #passion #productivity

A pure heart does not demean the spirit of an individual, it, instead, compels the individual to examine his spirit. ↗

— Criss Jami

#compelling #consideration #constructive-criticism #demean #demeaning

A true artist willingly removes their heart, allows constructive criticism to stomp it, then puts it back--bruised and aching--to continue improving due to the all-consuming obsessive love for their art. ↗

— H.G. Mewis

#h-g-mewis #true-artist #art

A true artist removes his heart willingly, allows constructive criticism to stomp it, then puts it back—bruised and aching—as he continues to strive for excellence due to the all-consuming obsession and love for his art. ↗

— H.G. Mewis

#constructive-criticism #h-g-mewis #heart #love #obsession

So somebody has talent? So what? Dime a dozen. And we're overpopulated. Actually we have more food than we have people and more art. We've gotten to the point of burning food. When will we begin to burn our art? ↗

— John Cage

#deconstructionism #music #revolution #art

Authority seems to be nothing other than the vanishing-point of textuality. And Nature is authority whose textual origins have been forgotten. ↗

— Barbara Johnson

#nature