kill one's darlings

Meaning: (idiomatic)Todestroythings orcharacters, particularly inart, of which one isfond, often reluctantly in order to improve one's artistic output.1965, Raymond Léopold Bruckerger,The History of Jesus Christ, page161:Someone asked William Faulkner what the supreme law of art was, and he replied in three words: "Kill your darlings!"2008January 20,Virginia Heffernan, “Art in the Age of Franchising”, inNew York Times‎[2]:[Fans] won’t participate in online dialogues and events, visit message boards and chat rooms or design games. As a result, platforms for supplementary advertising aren’t built, starving even the shows fans profess to love[…]. Aloof and passive fanskill their darlings.2011January 30, Theodore Bale, “Choreographer Koresh debuts Sense of Human”, inHouston Chronicle‎[3]:In sharp contrast to choreographers who try to build a repertory that reflects an ongoing personal style, Koresh prefers to "kill his darlings," as he puts it, and start from scratch.2015March 28, Ted Loos, “The Whitney Museum’s New Home”, inWall Street Journal‎[4]:As the curators sifted through more than 100 years of artworks, disagreements inevitably arose. “We all had tokill our darlings,” says Foster.

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