"An art whose medium is language will always show a high degree of critical creativeness, for speech is itself a critique of life: it names, it characterizes, it passes judgment, in that it creates."

I remember in the 8th grade, I wrote a paper titled "What Is Art?", I basically wrote a whole essay on the sum of this quote. Had I knew Thomas Mann had so much to say, I would have quoted him in that essay. I define art as "anything that is a product of creativity", here, Thomas Mann defines what role language plays in art and life. He talks about how it creates within itself "... in that it creates". - Thomas Mann