Leonard Bernstein: "We must encourage thought, free and creative."

Leonard Bernstein spoke on the Edward R. Murrow–hosted radio program "This I Believe" in the 1950s. Perhaps you will also find his perspectives inspiring:

"I believe in [our] unconscious mind, the deep spring from which comes [our] power to communicate and to love. For me, all art is a combination of these powers; for if love is the way we have of communicating personally in the deepest way, then what art can do is to extend this communication, magnify it, and carry it to vastly greater numbers of people.

"Therefore art is valid for the warmth and love it carries within it, even if it be the lightest entertainment, or the bitterest satire, or the most shattering tragedy.

"America is at the beginning of her greatest period in history -- a period of leadership in science, art and human progress... she needs us to believe more strongly than ever before in her and in one another, in our ability to grow and change, in our mutual dignity..

"We must encourage thought, free and creative. We must respect privacy. We must observe taste by not exploiting our sorrows better through art. We must rely more on the unconscious, inspirational side of man.

"We must not enslave ourselves to dogma. We must believe in the attainability of good. We must believe, without fear, in people."

Bernstein is quoted in the new book (and audio CD) This I Believe: Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women - which includes excerpts from the '50s program, plus the new NPR series.
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