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Ever since art separated itself from religion there has been confusion about art's relationships. Ought it preach, teach, propagate a message, be moral, be amoral, or only stand aloof from these things? The answer is that it can do or be any or all of these things, so long as it does not forget that primarily it is art, wedded to the Beautiful, and only secondarily, indirectly, concerned with religion, morality, and the other things. Let people make their own sermons from the mental pictures they are presented with, draw their own morals from the stories they read, and provide their own religious moods from the musical sounds they hear. Such work the artist ought not do for them.

-- Notebooks Category 14: The Arts in Culture > Chapter 1 : Appreciation > # 144