Not everything has a name. Some things lead us into a realm beyond words.
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian Dissident Novelist
An author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own children.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
—Scott Adams (b.1957) American Cartoonist
Don’t mind criticism. If it is untrue, disregard it; if unfair, keep from irritation; if it is ignorant, smile; if it is justified it is not criticism, learn from it.
—Unknown
Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods.
—Iris Murdoch (1919–99) British Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
All art is but imitation of nature.
—Seneca the Elder (Marcus Annaeus Seneca) (c.55 BCE–c.40 CE) Roman Rhetorician
By art he gladly found what he did seek,
A full requital of his striving pain.
Art can do much, but this maxim’s most sure:
A weak or wounded brain admits no cure.
—Anne Bradstreet (1612–72) American Poet
Abuse if you slight it, will gradually die away; but if you show yourself irritated, you will be thought to have deserved it.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
Is there not an art, a music, and a stream of words that shalt be life, the acknowledged voice of life?
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850) English Poet
Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Write without pay until somebody offers to pay you. If nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Would that we could at once paint with the eyes!—In the long way from the eye, through the arm, to the pencil, how much is lost!
—Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–81) German Writer, Philosopher
Bad artists always admire each other’s work. They call it being large-minded and free from prejudice. But a truly great artist cannot conceive of life being shown, or beauty fashioned, under any conditions other than those he has selected.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Great art picks up where nature ends.
—Marc Chagall (1889–1985) Russian-born French Painter, Graphic Artist
Art is science made clear.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
Art-speech is the only truth. An artist is usually a damned liar, but his art, if it be art, will tell you the truth of his day. And that is all that matters. Away with eternal truth.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Literary Critic
All the world knows me in my book, and may book in me.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
There is one way to handle the ignorant and malicious critic. Ignore him.
—Unknown
Nothing is more useful to man than those arts which have no utility.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
For us artists there waits the joyous compromise through art with all that wounded or defeated us in daily life; in this way, not to evade destiny, as the ordinary people try to do, but to fulfil it in its true potential—the imagination.
—Lawrence Durrell (1912–90) British Biographer, Poet, Playwright, Novelist
Art is the path of the creator to his work.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
What is Art? It is the response of man’s creative soul to the call of the Real.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
To write is to become disinterested. There is a certain renunciation in art.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.
—Henry James (1843–1916) American-born British Novelist, Writer
Poetry comes nearer to vital truth than history.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before.
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
You must often make erasures if you mean to write what is worthy of being read a second time; and don’t labor for the admiration of the crowd, but be content with a few choice readers.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
If that’s art, I’m a Hottentot!
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
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