There must be narrow-minded people as well as artists. It would be a bad thing if there were only artists, or if everyone who believes that he or she should get acknowledgment as an artist, would receive such credit. I would like to know what life would be like then. Genius is certainly necessary in life, but narrow-mindedness also needs to exist in the world. And if there were no bourgeois people around any longer, there would more than likely soon be no more geniuses either. One cannot simply apply the categories “good” and “bad” to life, because life is multiform. Talking is easy, but one should only express things which are derived from life itself.
Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 337b – Soziale Ideen/Soziale Wirklichkeit/Soziale Praxis – Dornach, August 30, 1920 (page 109)
Translated by Nesta Carsten-Krüger
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