Selassie's speech on Fine Arts

A purely materialistic art would be like a tree which is expected to bear fruit without flowering and to sacrifice grace and beauty for mere utility.

Our admiration for the creator's handiwork should not be limited to those things he has provided us with for our daily needs, but should include all that is good and beautiful.

It is these tender feelings of deep and silent admiration evoked from our hearts by the beauties of creation that should find adequate expression in the fine arts.

Music, drama and the other arts are rooted in the ancient history of our empire, and their development to an even higher peak of perfection will be possible in the atmosphere of a university. Ethiopia possesses an ancient literature and its study can be fostered here so that the Ethiopian youth inspired by this national example, may raise it to yet higher levels of excellence.

The study of the heroic history of our empire will stimulate the imagination of building authors and teachers.

This is a translation and has a separate copyright status from the original text. The license for the translation applies to this edition only.
Original:	This work is in the public domain because it was first created in Ethiopia. Under Title XI of the 1960 Ethiopian Civil Code, copyright exists only during the lifetime of the author. In addition, any potential Ethiopian copyrights are non-binding in the United States, according to Circ. 38a of the US Copyright Office.
Translation:	This work is in the public domain worldwide because it has been so released by the copyright holder.