Quote collection
171 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"When the motives of artists are profound, when they are at their work as a result of deep consideration, when they believe in the importance of what they are doing, their work creates a stir in the world."
"The pictures which do not represent an intense interest cannot expect to create an intense interest."
"Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties, genius will manifest itself."
"What we need is more sense of the wonder of life and less of this business of making a picture."
"All outward success, when it has value, is but the inevitable result of an inward success of full living, full play and enjoyment of one's faculties."
"There is nothing more entertaining than to have a frank talk with yourself. Few do it-frankly. Educating yourself is getting acquainted with yourself."
"The pursuit of happiness is a great activity. One must be open and alive. It is the greatest feat man has to accomplish, and spirits must flow. There must be courage. There are no easy ruts to get into which lead to happiness. A man must become interesting to himself and must become actually expressive before he can be happy."
"Beauty is no material thing. Beauty cannot be copied. Beauty is the sensation of pleasure on the mind of the seer. No thing is beautiful. But all things await the sensitive and imaginative mind that may be aroused to pleasurable emotion at sight of them. This is beauty."
"Get the few main lines and see what lines they call out."
"The ignorant are to be found as much among the educated as among the uneducated."
"Life is finding yourself. It is a spirit development."
"I am always sorry for the Puritan, for he guided his life against desire and against nature. He found what he thought was comfort, for he believed the spirit's safety was in negation, but he has never given the world one minute's joy or produced one symbol of the beautiful order of nature. He sought peace in bondage and his spirit became a prisoner."
"There is only one reason for art in America, and that is that the people of America learn the means of expressing themselves in their own time, and their own land."
"Art tends toward balance, order, judgment of relative values, the laws of growth, the economy of living – very good things for anyone to be interested in."
"Personal experimentation is revealing, and once you get into it, immensely engaging."
"Don't worry about the rejections. Everybody that's good has gone through it. Don't let it matter if your works are not "accepted" at once. The better or more personal you are the less likely they are of acceptance."
"You will never draw the sense of a thing unless you are feeling it at the time you work."
"Art need not be intended. It comes inevitably as the tree from the root, the branch from the trunk, the blossom from the twig. None of these forget the present in looking backward or forward. They are occupied wholly with the fulfillment of their own existence."
"It seems to me that before a man tries to express anything to the world he must recognize in himself an individual, a new one, very distinct from others."
"The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high functioning, a more than ordinary moment of existence. In such moments activity is inevitable, and whether this activity is with brush, pen, chisel, or tongue, its result is but a by-product of the state, a trace, the footprint of the state."