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Creativity Quote by Ivor Novello

"A visit to a cinema is a little outing in itself. It breaks the monotony of an afternoon or evening; it gives a change from the surroundings of home, however pleasant"

About this Quote

Cinema, for Novello, isn’t just art on a screen; it’s a socially acceptable escape hatch. The phrase “a little outing” is doing quiet work: it shrinks the experience to something modest, affordable, and repeatable, the kind of treat you can justify to yourself without calling it indulgence. He’s selling the ritual as much as the film - leaving the house, entering a public space, letting the lights go down and your private life go slightly out of focus.

The key tension sits in “however pleasant.” Novello nods to domestic comfort, then politely refuses to let it be the whole story. Home can be lovely and still feel airless. “Monotony” doesn’t imply misery; it implies sameness, the slow grind of time that makes even a good room feel too familiar. Cinema becomes a designed interruption, a controlled dose of novelty that doesn’t require a grand journey or a reinvention of self.

Context matters: Novello is a musician and theatrical celebrity from a Britain where film was rising as mass entertainment, and where leisure had become both more commercial and more necessary between economic strain and looming conflict. His language catches that cultural pivot. The cinema offers “change” without demanding change. It’s a modern promise: you can step outside your routine, sit among strangers, and come back refreshed - not because your life is different, but because, for two hours, it stopped being the only thing you had to look at.

Quote Details

TopicMovie
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Novello, Ivor. (2026, January 17). A visit to a cinema is a little outing in itself. It breaks the monotony of an afternoon or evening; it gives a change from the surroundings of home, however pleasant. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-visit-to-a-cinema-is-a-little-outing-in-itself-48582/

Chicago Style
Novello, Ivor. "A visit to a cinema is a little outing in itself. It breaks the monotony of an afternoon or evening; it gives a change from the surroundings of home, however pleasant." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-visit-to-a-cinema-is-a-little-outing-in-itself-48582/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"A visit to a cinema is a little outing in itself. It breaks the monotony of an afternoon or evening; it gives a change from the surroundings of home, however pleasant." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-visit-to-a-cinema-is-a-little-outing-in-itself-48582/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Ivor Add to List
Ivor Novello: Cinema as a Little Outing
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About the Author

Ivor Novello (January 15, 1893 - March 6, 1951) was a Musician from Welsh.

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