Justice & Law Quote by Mason Cooley

Art has rules the way cities have zoning codes: useful until they start choking the life out of the place. Mason Cooley’s line treats “laws” of art as a real authority worth noticing, then punctures that authority with a sly invitation to commit a better offense. The brilliance is the moral framing. He doesn’t say “ignore the rules.” He says “break” them, “make the crime interesting” - a wink that admits the audience (and the gatekeepers) are watching, and that transgression is part of the pleasure.

The intent is practical, not romantic. Cooley is warning against the most common failure of would-be innovators: not that they violate form, but that they do it without payoff. A cliché poem with no meter is still a cliché; a film that “subverts structure” but offers nothing in exchange is just unfinished. “Interesting” is the key word because it’s ruthlessly audience-centered. The work doesn’t get points for rebellion; it gets points for creating attention, surprise, tension, a new kind of coherence.

The subtext is that the “laws” aren’t sacred; they’re accumulated expectations. Breaking them is less like smashing commandments and more like picking a lock: you’d better know what’s behind the door. Cooley, a writer of aphorisms in the postwar American tradition, is speaking from a culture that prizes originality but still polices taste. His permission slip comes with a dare: if you’re going to be unruly, be memorable.