Harri Holkeri's Quotes

Finland had a civil war less than 100 years ago, just like in Ireland. If you look at the history of newly independent nations, civil war is almost every time present, even in the United States.

I recently reread an article of mine written in 1964, and I think it is still valid. There is not much difference. Many of the items on the agenda 37 years ago are still there.

I think we have grave problems. I am very much concerned about environmental questions, even though in Finnish society, we are not facing the most urgent problems.

If there is something I would like to do as President of the General Assembly, it is to place more emphasis on the issue of education, which enables a better life for women.

In Finland, we learned quite a lot from our own civil war. The wounds were visible when I was a boy, but my generation went into the Second World War and it united the Finnish nation, so I do not see any more wounds.

In international or national crises, there are always questions of lack of confidence. You have to change the minds of the people in order to get results.

One of the biggest development issues in the world is the education of girls. In the United States and Europe, it has been accepted, but not in Africa and the developing countries.

The only people left in America who seem not to be artists are illustrators.

Surrealism: An archaic term. Formerly an art movement. No longer distinguishable from everyday life.

Futurism: This was a movement of intellectuals who wanted to replace tradition with the modern world of machinery, speed, violence, and public relations. It proves that we should be careful what intellectuals wish for, because we might get it.

In Modernism, reality used to validate media. In Postmodernism, the media validate reality. If you don't believe this, just think how many times you've described some real event as being 'just like a movie.'

Art imitates life. Life imitates high school.

Cubism is still the most important art movement for the same reason that John D. is still the most important Rockefeller.

If they were starting their careers today, Rockwell and Picasso would probably both be painting on black velvet.

In America, the only truly popular art form is the movies. Most people consider painting a hobby and literature, schoolwork.

Political art expresses the cliches you agree with, unlike propaganda, which expresses the cliches you don't.

Style is the most valuable asset of the modern artist. That's probably why so many styles are reported lost or stolen each year.

The truth is, we haven't really figured out yet how artists are going to thrive in modern mass societies. We're all experiments.

Fifty years ago, it was the dream of every bohemian artist to be seen getting out of a limousine wearing blue jeans and sneakers. Today, it's the dream of probably half the people in the country.

I've never understood why artists, who so often condescend to the cliches of their own culture, are so eager to embrace the cliches of cultures they know nothing about.

Many of the contradictions in Postmodern art come from the fact that we're trying to be artists in a democratic society. This is because in a democracy, the ideal is compromise. In art, it isn't.

Many people have observed that truth is stranger than fiction. This has led some intellectuals to conclude that it's stranger than non-fiction as well.

Postmodernists believe that truth is myth, and myth, truth. This equation has its roots in pop psychology. The same people also believe that emotions are a form of reality. There used to be another name for this state of mind. It used to be called psychosis.

All of the musicians when I was young used to always say you had to tell a story when you're a musician.

I started playing with a group of young people when I was 13. I turned professional when I was 15 and I played dance halls, this on bass guitar.

I want to be surprised by what people do, I don't want to work with people who need to be told what to do. I want people to show me what they've got.

The whole point in developing your own style is to find your own voice.

To me, at its best, that's what art should do, perform both the emotional and intellectual function.

You have to find a way to protect yourself in a certain way from people who are constantly demanding your time.

I think that what is important is that the music be honest and direct and that it is relevant to today. I think music needs to be of its time and speak to that time.

I think there is great interest amongst the younger people in this music. I think that there is a lot of them that are looking for interesting situations and music that is stimulating.

In fact, jazz has such a great feeling and great emotional content that it really doesn't require you to have technical understanding of it. I think you just have to allow your feelings to go with the music and you will find yourself carried along by it fairly quickly.

It was only when I started to dig my heels in that I started to realize that's what I needed to do - that nobody was going to open the door for me, that I had to make some space.