"The great trouble with art in this country [America] at present, and apparently in France also, is that there is no spirit of revolt—no new ideas appearing among the younger artists. They are following along the paths beaten out by their predecessors, trying to do better what their predecessors have already done. In art there is no such thing as perfection."
"Art is produced by a succession of individuals expressing themselves; it is not a question of progress."
Marcel Duchamp, "The great trouble with art in this country," in The writings of Marcel Duchamp, ed. Michel Sanouillet and Elmer Peerson (Da Capo Press, 1989), p. 123.
