Artist quotes
8.6K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside artist — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"There is a world of communication which is not dependent on words. This is the world in which the artist operates and for him words can be dangerous unless they are examined in the light of the work. The communication is in the work and words are no substitute for this."
"All artists are now free to express their own personality."
"It is dangerous it seems to me for a civilization when there is a complete abyss betewen people in general and the artists. Or is it always so? The poets who are most ardently on the people's side write in such a way that the people cannot see rhyme nor reason to their work."
"I deliberately did not read anything about the Vietnam War because I felt the politics of the war eclipsed what happened to the veterans. The politics were irrelevant to what this memorial was."
"It terrified me to have an idea that was solely mine to be no longer a part of my mind, but totally public."
"We were unusually brought up; there was no gender differentiation. I was never thought of as any less than my brother."
"How we are using up our home, how we are living and polluting the planet is frightening. It was evident when I was a child. It's more evident now."
"My parents are both college professors, and it made me want to question authority, standards and traditions."
"I started studying what the nature of a monument is and what a monument should be. And for the World War III memorial I designed a futile, almost terrifying passage that ends nowhere."
"My grandfather, on my father's side, helped to draft one of the first constitutions of China. He was a fairly well-known scholar."
"I went through withdrawal when I got out of graduate school. It's what you learn, what you think. That's all that counts."
"Even if you are divine, you don't disdain male consorts."
"I am no artist - please come and help me."
"The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image."
"I did go through a Goth thing, but that was a long time ago. I just like artists that shake it up, that piss people off or make people think or rattle the cage somehow."
"I think most artists find it difficult to part with their work but it's the parting that keeps us alive and keeps us working. In the case of the chariot, although it's been sold I actually still have it, just in another form."
"A grocer is attracted to his business by a magnetic force as great as the repulsion which renders it odious to artists."
"The artist makes his living by pretending, by putting it in a meaningful hole though no such holes exist."
"Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist, you have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it."
"It is through observation and perception of atmosphere that he [the artist] can register the feeling that he wishes his painting to give out."
