Aesthetic Theory Quotes

“If in keeping with Hegel’s insight all feeling related to an aesthetic object has an accidental aspect, usually that of psychological projection, then what the work demands from its beholder is knowledge, and indeed, knowledge that does justice to it: The work wants its truth and untruth to be grasped.”
― Theodor W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory

“Aesthetic pleasure needs no justification, because a life without such pleasure is one not worth living.”
― Dana Gioia, Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture