"'Let us not kid ourselves,' Professor Vladimir Nabokov reminds us. 'Let us remember that literature is of no practical value whatsoever. ... ' But practical value isn't the only kind of value. Ours is a mixed economy, with the gift economy of the arts existing (if not exactly flourishing) within the inhospitable conditions of a market economy, like the fragile black market in human decency that keeps civilization going despite the pitiless dictates of self-interest." -- Tim Kreider, 2013-10-26
[I was going to pair this with another quotation, about the joy and glory of making art for art's sake but an artist still needs to eat and pay the rent ... but I can't find that other quotation now. Whoops.]