Quote collection
437 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"...the right to free expression is something one seizes, not something one is given.... if it does exist, it exists to be used against the established order.... There is absolute opposition between the artist and the state."
"A painting is not thought out in advance. While it is being done, it changes as one’s thoughts change. And when it’s finished, it goes on changing, according to the state of mind of whoever is looking at it"
"For me, there are two kinds of women - goddesses and doormats."
"In art, practice always comes before theory."
"Action is the fundamental key to success."
"You cannot go against nature. She is stronger than the strongest of men. We can permit ourselves some liberties, but in details only."
"I am exhausted if I don't work."
"It means nothing to me. I have no opinion about it, and I don't care."
"Paradise is to love many things with a passion."
"What one does is what counts. Not what one had the intention of doing."
"Unless your work gives you trouble, it is no good."
"When you are young and without success, you have only a few friends. Then, later on, when you are rich and famous, you still have a few... if you are lucky."
"There's nothing so similar to one poodle dog as another poodle dog, and that goes for women, too."
"Through education comes understanding. Through understanding comes true appreciation. All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
"If you are a genius and unsuccessful, everybody treats you as if you were a genius, but when you come to be successful, when you commence to earn money, when you are really successful, then your family and everybody no longer treats you like a genius, they treat you like a man who has become successful."
"Today, as you know, I am famous and very rich. But when I am alone with myself, I haven't the 'courage' to consider myself an artist, in the great and ancient sense of that word... I am only a public entertainer, who understands his age."
"What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only his eyes if he's a painter, or ears if he's a musician, or a lyre at every level of his heart if he's a poet, or even, if he's a boxer, just his muscles? On the contrary, he's at the same time a political being, constantly alive to heart-rending, burning, or happy events in the world."
"When I die, it will be a shipwreck, and as when a huge ship sinks, many people all around will be sucked down with it."
"That inspiration comes, does not depend on me. The only thing I can do is make sure it catches me working."
"Something sacred, that's it. We ought to be able to say that such and such a painting is as it is, with its capacity for power, because it is "touched by God.""