The sole art that suits me is that which, rising from unrest, tends toward serenity.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, ‘Is there a meaning to music?’ My answer would be, ‘Yes.’ And ‘Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?’ My answer to that would be, ‘No.’
—Aaron Copland (1900–90) American Composer, Pianist, Conductor
Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
If we are to change our world view, images have to change. The artist now has a very important job to do. He’s not a little peripheral figure entertaining rich people, he’s really needed.
—David Hockney (b.1937) English Painter, Draughtsman
The creative artist seems to be almost the only kind of man that you could never meet on neutral ground. You can only meet him as an artist. He sees nothing objectively because his own ego is always in the foreground of every picture.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
Art raises its head where creeds relax.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.
—Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American Novelist Essayist
Do what you feel in your heart to be right—for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Art is the proper task of life.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity—it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance.
—John Keats (1795–1821) English Poet
Criticism of others is futile and if you indulge in it often you should be warned that it can be fatal to your career.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
This grandiose tragedy that we call modern art.
—Salvador Dali (1904–89) Spanish Painter
Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-American Philosopher, Poet, Sculptor
The strange power of art is sometimes it can show that what people have in common is more urgent than what differentiates them. It seems to me it’s something that theatre can do, but it’s rare; it’s very rare.
—John Berger (1926–2017) English Art Critic, Novelist
I can’t tell you what art does and how it does it, but I know that often art has judged the judges, pleaded revenge to the innocent and shown to the future what the past suffered, so that it has never been forgotten. Art, when it functions like this, becomes a meeting-place of the invisible, the irreducible, the enduring, guts, and honor.
—John Berger (1926–2017) English Art Critic, Novelist
Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth.
—George Sand (1804–76) French Novelist, Dramatist
The artist has never been a dictator, since he understands better than anybody else the variations in human personality.
—Heywood Broun (1888–1939) American Journalist
All that I desire to point out is the general principle that Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor of the age and not go flopping along.
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–66) British Novelist, Essayist, Biographer
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
Art distills sensations and embodies it with enhanced meaning.
—Jacques Barzun (b.1907) American Cultural Historian, Philosopher
Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Artists who have won fame are often embarrassed by it; thus their first works are often their best.
—Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) German Composer, Musician
Artists are, above all, men who want to become inhuman.
—Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918) Italian-born French Poet, Playwright
The artist is a member of the leisured classes who cannot pay for his leisure.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public. The conventional is uncritically enjoyed, and the truly new is criticized with aversion.
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940) German Literary and Marxist Critic
The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world. In this long vigil he often has to vary his methods of stimulation; but in this long vigil he is also himself striving against a continual tendency to sleep.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
All art is quite useless.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
One must be a living man and a posthumous artist.
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
Leave a Reply