best quotations about
Art |
| 161 quotes | Visits: 8,179 |
Quotations
 | The object of art is to give life shape. — Jean Anouilh, 1910-1987, French playwright 12 likes |
 | Art is to console those who are broken by life. — Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch painter 11 likes |
 | No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 9 likes |
 | How beauty varies in nature and art! In a woman the flesh must be like marble; in a statue the marble must be like flesh. — Victor Hugo, 1802-1885, French writer 8 likes |
 | Bad artists copy. Good artists steal. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 8 likes |
 | Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it. — Bertolt Brecht, 1898-1956, German writer 8 likes |
| All artforms are in the service of the greatest of all arts: the art of living. — Bertolt Brecht, 1898-1956, German writer 8 likes |
| Art is the elimination of the unnecessary. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 7 likes |
 | Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time. — Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, French artist 7 likes |
 | The more a man cultivates the arts the less he fornicates. — Charles Baudelaire, 1821-1867, French poet 7 likes |
 | Science is spectral analysis. Art is light synthesis. — Karl Kraus, 1874-1936, Austrian writer 7 likes |
 | The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them. — Anton Chekhov, 1860-1904, Russian writer 7 likes |
 | Art for art’s sake! — Théophile Gautier, 1811-1872, French poet & writer ( l'art pour l'art – used in the preface to his 1835 book, Mademoiselle de Maupin.) 7 likes |
 | Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth. — Theodore Adorno, 1903-1969, German philosopher 7 likes |
 | We have art in order not to die of the truth. — Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German philosopher 6 likes |
| Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 6 likes |
 | The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery. — Francis Bacon, 1561-1626, English philosopher 6 likes |
 | Art is not a thing; it is a way. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 6 likes |
 | Art is the tree of life. Science is the tree of death. — William Blake, 1757-1827, English poet & painter 5 likes |
 | My aesthetic is that of the sniper on the roof. — Jean-Luc Godard, 1930-2022, French film director 5 likes |
| Art is a faith that imposes the duty to ignore public opinion. — Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch painter 5 likes |
| The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 5 likes |
| Give me a museum and I'll fill it. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 5 likes |
 | Treat a work of art like a prince: let it speak to you first. — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, German philosopher 5 likes |
 | Why is art beautiful? Because it's useless. Why is life ugly? Because it's all ends and purposes and intentions. — Fernando Pessoa, 1888-1935, Portuguese poet & writer 5 likes |
| All art is immoral. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 5 likes |
 | Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion... Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art. — Remy de Gourmont, 1858-1915, French poet 5 likes |
| I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. — Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch painter 4 likes |
 | Few artists thrive in solitude and nothing is more stimulating than the conflict of minds with similar interests. — Arthur Clarke, 1917-2008, British Sci-Fi writer 4 likes |
| Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 4 likes |
| Art consists in making others feel what we feel. — Fernando Pessoa, 1888-1935, Portuguese poet & writer 4 likes |
| An artist cannot speak about his art any more than a plant can discuss horticulture. — Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, French artist 4 likes |
| Art is science made clear. — Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, French artist 4 likes |
| The study of beauty is a duel in which the artist cries out in terror before being defeated. — Charles Baudelaire, 1821-1867, French poet 4 likes |
 | There comes a time as an artist, can't follow the crowd. You have to do YOU, and make the crowd follow you. — Bob Marley, 1945-1981, Jamaican singer 4 likes |
| For art to be unpolitical means only to ally itself with the ruling group. — Bertolt Brecht, 1898-1956, German writer 4 likes |
 | The artist is not the transcriber of the world, he is its rival. — André Malraux, 1901-1976, French writer & statesman 4 likes |
 | Art is making something out of nothing, and selling it. — Frank Zappa, 1940-1993, American musician 4 likes |
 | There is no science without fancy and no art without fact. — Vladimir Nabokov, 1899-1977, Russian-American writer 4 likes |
| All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 4 likes |
| Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 3 likes |
| The isms go, the ist dies, art remains. — Vladimir Nabokov, 1899-1977, Russian-American writer 3 likes |
| I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say, “he feels deeply, he feels tenderly.” — Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch painter 3 likes |
 | If one does not understand the usefulness of the useless and the uselessness of the useful, one cannot understand art. — Eugene Ionesco, 1912-1994, French-Romanian playwright 3 likes |
 | Art is a jealous mistress. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1884, American philosopher 3 likes |
| Art can never exist without Naked Beauty displayed. — William Blake, 1757-1827, English poet & painter 3 likes |
 | The artist reconstructs the world to his plan. — Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957 3 likes |
 | A work of art is never finished; it is only abandoned. — Paul Valery, 1871-1945, French poet 3 likes |
| Only he is an artist who can make a riddle out of a solution. — Karl Kraus, 1874-1936, Austrian writer 3 likes |
| The person who wants nothing, hopes for nothing, and fears nothing can never be an artist. — Anton Chekhov, 1860-1904, Russian writer 3 likes |
 | This grandiose tragedy that we call modern art… — Salvador Dali, 1904-1989, Spanish painter 3 likes |
 | Art is anything you can do well. Anything you can do with quality. — Robert M. Pirsig, 1928-2017, American writer 3 likes |
 | Writers, Composers, Painters, - also artists like directors and actors fall into the same category. They have to be handled with kid gloves, mentally and physically. — Marlen Dietrich, 1901-1992, German-American actress 3 likes |
| ...and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough? — Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch painter 3 likes |
 | One of the most striking signs of the decay of art is the intermixing of different genres. — Wolfgang Goethe, 1749-1832, German poet & philosopher 3 likes |
 | The object of modern art does not possess inner life; only internal conflicts. — Nicolas Gomez Davila, 1913-1994, Colombian writer 3 likes |
| What makes a work of fiction safe from larvae and rust is not its social importance but its art, only its art. — Vladimir Nabokov, 1899-1977, Russian-American writer 2 likes |
| All art is erotic. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 2 likes |
| There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 2 likes |
| You don't make art, you find it. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 2 likes |
 | An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have. — Andy Warhol, 1928-1987, American artist 2 likes |
| Art is what you can get away with. — Andy Warhol, 1928-1987, American artist 2 likes |
| Making money is art. And working is art. And good business is the best art. — Andy Warhol, 1928-1987, American artist 2 likes |
| You'd be surprised how many people want to hang an electric chair on their living-room wall. Specially if the background color matches the drapes. — Andy Warhol, 1928-1987, American artist 2 likes |
| My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person. — Andy Warhol, 1928-1987, American artist 2 likes |
| A work of art really is above all an adventure of the mind. — Eugene Ionesco, 1912-1994, French-Romanian playwright 2 likes |
 | The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill. — Somerset Maugham, 1874-1965, British writer 2 likes |
| Every artist was first an amateur. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1884, American philosopher 2 likes |
| Poetry, Painting & Music, the three powers in man of conversing with paradise, which the flood did not sweep away. — William Blake, 1757-1827, English poet & painter 2 likes |
| First thought is best in Art, second in other matters. — William Blake, 1757-1827, English poet & painter 2 likes |
| What is art but the denial of life? — Fernando Pessoa, 1888-1935, Portuguese poet & writer 2 likes |
| If the world were clear, art would not exist. — Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957 2 likes |
| Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self. — Jean-Luc Godard, 1930-2022, French film director 2 likes |
| When a work appears to be ahead of its time, it is only the time that is behind the work. — Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, French artist 2 likes |
| One must be a living man and a posthumous artist. — Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, French artist 2 likes |
| What the public like best is fruit that is overripe. — Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, French artist 2 likes |
 | Art like life should be free, since both are experimental. — George Santayana, 1863-1952, Spanish-American philosopher 2 likes |
| Art is something that is so perfectly clear that no one comprehends it. — Karl Kraus, 1874-1936, Austrian writer 2 likes |
| Artists have a right to be modest and a duty to be vain. — Karl Kraus, 1874-1936, Austrian writer 2 likes |
 | Art is the escape from personality. — T. S. Eliot, 1888-1965, British poet, Nobel 1948 2 likes |
| The moment when one first meets a great work of art has an impact that can never again be recaptured. — Arthur Clarke, 1917-2008, British Sci-Fi writer 2 likes |
 | A work in which there are theories is like an object which still has the ticket that shows its price. — Marcel Proust, 1871-1922, French writer 2 likes |
 | One of two things is usually lacking in the so-called Philosophy of Art: either philosophy or art. — Friedrich von Schlegel, 1772-1829, German writer 2 likes |
| Only he who possesses a personal religion, an original view of infinity, can be an artist. — Friedrich von Schlegel, 1772-1829, German writer 2 likes |
| What men are among the other formations of the earth, artists are among men. — Friedrich von Schlegel, 1772-1829, German writer 2 likes |
 | I am tired of museums. Museums are the cemeteries of art. — Alphonse de Lamartin, 1790-1869, French poet 2 likes |
 | The critic is a eunuch in the harem of art. — Zarko Petan, 1929-2014, Slovenian playwright & aphorist 2 likes |
| Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don't start measuring her limbs. — Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish painter 2 likes |
 | We want Realism's wealth of experience and Symbolism's depth of feeling. All art is a problem of balance between two opposites. — Cesare Pavese, 1908-1950, Italian writer 2 likes |
 | Art is seduction, not rape. — Susan Sontag, 1933-2004, American writer, critic, activist 1 likes |
| New forms of art are always followed by new forms of life. — Anton Chekhov, 1860-1904, Russian writer 1 likes |
 | I believe entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you’re an idiot. |
 | Art is never finished, only abandoned. |
| Artists are the monks of the bourgeois society. |
 | The artist works by locating the world in himself. |
| The creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic. |
| Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. |
 | A work is perfectly finished only when nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away. |
 | The absence of limitations is the enemy of art. |
 | The most beautiful works are those where there is the least material. |
| You don’t make art out of good intentions. |
 | Thinking is seeing... all poetry like every work of art proceeds from a swift vision of things. |
 | So much freedom, in Art, to do so little! |
| Art includes everything that stimulates the desire to live. |
 | A work of art is good if it has grown out of necessity. |
| The supreme force of art and love is to force us to want to exhaust the inexhaustible in them. |
| Like love, art is not pleasure but passion. |
| Art is the shortest way from man to man. |
| The Museum transforms the work of art into an object. |
| Art is a revolt against fate. |
| The only domain where the divine is visible is that of art, whatever name we choose to call it. |
| An art book is a museum without walls. |
| If you can’t make art, make your life a work of art. |
| An artist discovers his genius the day he dares not to please. |
| The world of art is not a world of immortality but of metamorphosis. |
 | In art as in love, instinct is enough. |
| Art is beauty, the perpetual invention of detail, the choice of words, the exquisite care of execution. |
| Yes, the work comes out more beautiful from a material that resists the process, verse, marble, onyx, or enamel. |
| Art as a whole is a riddle. Another way of putting this is to say that art expresses something while at the same time hiding it. |
| Every work of art is an uncommitted crime. |
| The forms of art reflect the history of man more truthfully than do documents themselves. |
| The task of art today is to bring chaos into order. |
 | A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it. |
| Without Art, we should have no notion of the sacred; without Science, we should always worship false gods. |
 | Art is anything you can get away with. — Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, Canadian academic & media theorist |
| Advertising is the greatest art form of the twentieth century. — Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, Canadian academic & media theorist |
| Poetry and the arts can’t exist in America. Mere exposure to the arts does nothing for a mentality which is incorrigibly dialectical. The vital tensions and nutritive action of ideogram remain inaccessible to this state of mind. — Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, Canadian academic & media theorist (Letter to Ezra Pound, 21 December 1948) |
 | Art keeps one young, I think, because it keeps one perpetually a beginner, perpetually a child. |
| There is nothing fiercer than a failed artist. The energy remains, but, having no outlet, it implodes in a great black fart of rage which smokes up all the inner windows of the soul. |
| Le surréalisme, c'est moi. |
| A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others. |
| The least you can ask of a sculpture is that it does not move. |
 | I demanded a realm in which I should be both master and slave at the same time: The world of art is the only such realm. |
| An artist earns the right to call himself a creator only when he admits to himself that he is but an instrument. |
| An artist is always alone – if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness. |
| The artist who becomes thoroughly aware consequently ceases to be one. |
 | Romanticism is a state of the soul. Classicism is a state the spirit. — Maurice Chapelan, 1906-1992, French author of maxims & journalist |
 | The works of the great artists are silent books of eternal truths. |
 | Well, I feel that we should always put a little art into what we do. It's better that way. |
 | The muses are ghosts, and sometimes they come uninvited. — Stephen King, 1947-, American author of horror & fantasy fiction |
 | If the genius is an artist, then he accomplishes his work as art, but neither he nor his work of art has a telos outside him. |
 | The scientist seeks laws; the historian, causes; the artist, freedom. — Marty Rubin, 1930-1994, Canadian gay activist, author & journalist |
| Philosophers tell you what they think. Artists show you. — Marty Rubin, 1930-1994, Canadian gay activist, author & journalist |
 | The great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable. No virtuous man — that is, virtuous in the Y.M.C.A. sense — has ever painted a picture worth looking at, or written a symphony worth hearing, or a book worth reading. — H.L. Mencken, 1880-1956, American columnist & cultural critic |
 | I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction. — Saul Bellow, 1914-2005, Canadian-American writer, Nobel 1976 |
| I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. — Saul Bellow, 1914-2005, Canadian-American writer, Nobel 1976 |
 | Art is a house that tries to be haunted. |
 | Sculpture gives soul to marble. — François-René de Chateaubriand, 1768-1848, French poet & politician |
 | Art is nature accelerated and God slowed down. — Malcolm de Chazal, 1902-1981, Mauritian thinker & aphorist |
 | A difficult life is to art what manure is to fruits and vegetables. |
 | All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us that we are all more alike than we are unalike. |
 | We artists are a different breed of people. We’re a happy bunch. |
 | An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. |
| I think there’s an artist hidden at the bottom of every single one of us. |
Latin Quotes
 | Nature, the mistress of art. Natura, artis magistra. 41 likes |
 | I have made a monument more lasting than bronze. Exegi monumentum aere perennius. 12 likes |
 | Art for art's sake. Ars Gratia Artis. — motto of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (from the 19th century French slogan “l’art pour l’art”) 8 likes |
Quotes in Verse
 | There is no immaculate conception in art. — Giorgos Seferis, 1900-1971, Greek poet, Nobel 1963 6 likes |
Funny Quotes
 | I went to a museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums. — Steven Wright, 1955-, American comedian 3 likes |
Ancient Greek
 | No form of Nature is inferior to Art. For the arts merely imitate natural forms Ουκ έστι χείρων ουδεμία φύσις τέχνης. Και γαρ αι τέχναι τας φύσεις μιμούνται. — Marcus Aurelius, 121-180 AD, Roman Emperor ‐ Meditations XI, 10 6 likes |
 | Tears, the preludes of art. Δάκρυα, τα προοίμια της τέχνης. — Lucian, 120-180 AD, Ancient Syrian-Greek satirist 3 likes |
