Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Art
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“All good science is art. And all good art is science.”
John Fowles (1926–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art is something absolute, something positive, which gives power just as food gives power. While creative science is a mental food, art is the satisfaction of the soul.”
Hans Hofmann (1880–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is in reality no such thing as modern art. Art is carried on up and down in immense cycles through centuries and civilizations.”
Hans Hofmann (1880–1966) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: statement in Hans Hofmann: Recent Paintings (1952) Kootz Gallery
“Chess for me is not a game, but an art. Yes, and I take upon myself all those responsibilities which an art imposes on its adherents.”
Alexander Alekhine (1892–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in: Daniel James Brooks (2013) Poetics. Book 1, p. 72.
“Art today is an absolutely secondary matter. Anyone who is able to look further than the walls of his own studio can see this.. .All the same, art is a business that demands a very clear decision from anyone who undertakes it. It is not immaterial where you stand in this business.. .Are you on the side of the exploiters or on that of the masses, who want to wring the exploiters' necks?”
George Grosz (1893–1959) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Grosz, Nov. 1920 in: 'Zu meinen neuen Bildern', Das Kunstblatt 5., no. 1 (1921): as cited in 'Portfolios', Alexander Dückers; in German Expressionist Prints and Drawings - Essays Vol 1.; published by Museum Associates, …
“Árt is dead. Long live Tatlin's new machine art.”
George Grosz (1893–1959) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Grosz and Heartfield, 1920: text on their billboard at the Dada fair in Berlin
“All great art has madness, and quite a lot of bad art has it, too.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art can no longer afford to be contemptuous of politics, and it appears to be time politics took a little instruction from art.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art and politics must move closer together. Reflection and action must be equally valid in good men if history is not to take one course and art an other.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wars, for us, are either inevitable, or created. Whatever they are, they should not wholly vitiate art. What art needs is greater men, and what politics needs is better men.”
William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art was what I originally started out to do and music came second at first. I had a year at art college but I left because it was too much like school. I give all my paintings away to people I like.”
Cat Stevens (born 1948) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview for Melody Maker with Chris Charlesworth (July 1970)
“What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or disturbing subject matter, an art which could be for every mental worker, for the businessman as well as the man of letters, for example, a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.”
Henri Matisse (1869–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My work with Benton was important as something against which to react very strongly, later on; in this, it was better to have worked with him than with a less resistant personality who would have provided a much less strong opposition. At the same time Benton introduced me to Renaissance art. [remark on his former art-teacher w:Thomas Hart Benton ]”
Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Clifford Ross (ed.) Abstract Expressionism: Creators and Critics, New York: Abrahams Publishers (1990), p. 137
“Nietzsche understands the aesthetic state of the observer and recipient on the basis of the state of the creator. Thus the effect of the artwork is nothing else than a reawakening of the creator’s state in the one who enjoys the artwork. Observation of art follows in the wake of creation. Nietzsche says (SM, 821), “—the effect of artworks is arousal of the art-creating state, rapture.”
Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“… but love, like all art, as Oscar said, it's quite useless. It is the useless things that make life worth living and that make life dangerous too: wine, love, art, beauty. Without them life is safe but not worth bothering with.”
Stephen Fry (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The greatest foe to art is luxury, art cannot live in its atmosphere.”
William Morris (1834–1896) first seen 1880 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Beauty of Life (1880)
“How can you put out a meaningful drama when every fifteen minutes proceedings are interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits with toilet paper? No dramatic art form should be dictated and controlled by men whose training and instincts are cut of an entirely different cloth. The fact remains that these gentlemen sell consumer goods, not an art form.”
Rod Serling (1924–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Rod Serling: Submitted for Your Approval (October 1997), American Masters (PBS: Thirteen/WNET).
“Some new works of art have values of some kind or another. Others, the majority, have little or none. But newness as such, in art, is never a value.”
Robert Hughes (1938–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art" is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers…what we call art is a game.”
Octavio Paz (1914–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If future society assumes the contours foretold by Marxism, if the jungle of our cities turns to the polis of man and the dreams of anger are made real, the representative art will be high comedy. Art will be the laughter of intelligence, as it is in Plato, in Mozart, in Stendhal.”
George Steiner (1929–2020) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Literature and Post-History" (1965).
“The art of growing old is the art of being regarded by the oncoming generations as a support and not as a stumbling-block, as a confidant and not as a rival.”
André Maurois (1885–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If art, all art, is concerned with truth, then a society in denial will not find much in use for it.”
Jeanette Winterson (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first sight of the tomb Ilario di Carreto at Lucca at once altered the course of my life for me… and from that day I left the upholsterer's business in art to those who trade in it, and have guided my work, and limited my teaching, only by the sacred laws of truth and devotion which created the perfect schools of Christian art in Florence and Venice.”
John Ruskin (1819–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thou art miserable wheresoever thou art, and whithersoever thou turnest, unless thou turn thee to God.”
Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“. . . dost thou seek for thyself rest and joy? Thou art wrong, thou art wrong, if thou seekest aught but to suffer tribulations, for this whole mortal life is full of miseries, and set round with crosses.”
Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“thou art far weaker than thou art able to comprehend. Let, therefore, nothing which thou doest seem to thee great; let nothing be grand, nothing of value or beauty, nothing worthy of honour, nothing lofty, nothing praiseworthy or desirable, save what is eternal”
Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no more grievous and deadly enemy to the soul than thou art to thyself, if thou art not led by the Spirit.”
Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All is not frustrated, though thou find thyself very often afflicted or grievously tempted. Thou art man, not God; thou art flesh, not an angel.”
Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We know from many experiences that this is what the work of art does: its life — in which we have shared the alien existences both of this world and of that different world to which the work of art alone gives us access — unwillingly accuses our lives.”
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Profession of Poetry," Partisan Review (September/October 1950), p. 166
“You read something which you thought only happened to you, and you discover that it happened 100 years ago to Dostoyevsky. This is a very great liberation for the suffering, struggling person, who always thinks that he is alone. This is why art is important. Art would not be important if life were not important, and life is important.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In every art we are always obliged to return to the accepted means of expression, the conventional language of the art. What is a black-and-white drawing but a convention to which the beholder has become so accustomed that with his mind's eye he sees a complete equivalent in the translation from nature?”
Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) first seen 1857 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 13 January 1857 (p. 334)
“There is an art to knowing where things should be checked and making sure that the program fails fast if you make a mistake. That kind of choosing is part of the art of simplification.”
Ward Cunningham (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A contemporary poet has characterized this sense of the personality of art and of the impersonality of science in these words,—"Art is myself, science is ourselves.”
Claude Bernard (1813–1878) first seen 1864 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bernard's aphorism (alternate translation: "Art is I, science is we") is actually a creative paraphrase of a longish passage in Victor Hugo's William Shakespeare (1864), Book III, Ch. IV. See in the English translation …
“A modern poet has characterized the personality of art and the impersonality of science as follows: Art is I: Science is We.”
Claude Bernard (1813–1878) said by 1878 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Alpinism is the art of climbing mountains by confronting the greatest dangers with the greatest prudence. Art is used here to mean the accomplishment of knowledge in action.”
René Daumal (1908–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Others abide our question. Thou art free. We ask and ask — Thou smilest and art still, Out-topping knowledge.”
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) said by 1888 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My art is rooted in a single reflection: why am I not as others are? ..my art gives meaning to my life.”
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in Edvard Munch: Psyche, Symbol and Expression (2001) by Jeffery Howe
“My afflictions belong to me and my art - they have become one with me. Without illness and anxiety, I would have been a rudderless ship.. .My art is really a voluntary confession and an attempt to explain to myself my relationship with life - it is, therefore, actually a sort of egoism, but I am constantly hoping that through this I can help others achieve clarity.”
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in 'From my rotting body, flowers shall grow, and I am in them, and that is eternity', Potter P. Emerg Infect Dis, 2011
“What is art really? The outcome of dissatisfaction with life, the point of impact for the creative force, the continual movement of life.. ..in my art I attempt to explain life and its meaning to myself.”
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: N 45, as quoted in Edvard Much – behind the scream, Sue Prideaux; Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, p. 35
“There is no more difficult art to acquire than the art of observation, and for some men it is quite as difficult to record an observation in brief and plain language.”
William Osler (1849–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the far north, where humans must face the constant threat of starvation, where life is reduced to the bare essentials—it turns out that one of these essentials is art. Art seems to belong to the basic pattern of life of the Eskimo, and of the neighboring Athapaskan and Algonkian Indian bands as well.”
Peter Farb (1929–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Commercial art is art.”
Syd Mead (1933–2019) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Juxtapoz, March 2001
“Art is not like other culture because its success is not made by its audience. The public fill concert halls and cinemas everyday, we read novels by the millions, and buy records by the billions. 'We the people' affect the making and quality of most of our culture, but not our art.”
“As far as I can tell, the only thing worth looking at in most museums of art is all the schoolgirls on day trips with the art department.”
“I bear witness that Thou art the Most Manifest, the Omnipotent, the Ever-Abiding; that of all things that exist on earth and in the heavens nothing whatsoever can frustrate Thy purpose and that Thou art the Knower of all things and the Lord of might and majesty.”
Báb (1819–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have testified to Thy oneness through Thine Own Self before the dwellers of the heavens and the earth, bearing witness that, verily, Thou art the All-Glorious, the Best Beloved. I have attained the recognition of Thee through Thine Own Self before the dwellers of the heavens and the earth, bearing witness that Thou art in truth the Almighty, the All-Praised.”
Báb (1819–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have extolled Thine overpowering majesty through Thine Own Self before the dwellers of the heavens and the earth, bearing witness that, verily, Thou and Thou alone art the Lord of might, the Eternal One, the Ancient of Days. Hallowed and glorified art Thou; there is none other God but Thee and in truth unto Thee do we all return.”
Báb (1819–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why there are so many great actresses, so few great woman writers? The erotic urge that lies at the bottom of all art has a feminine and a masculine character. Feminine is the urge to be; masculine the urge to do. Interpretative art always has more of the feminine about it”
Max Frisch (1911–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Art alone makes life possible – this is how radically I should like to formulate it. I would say that without art man is inconceivable in physiological terms.”
Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I try to go further on over the threshold where modern art ends and anthropological art has to start.”
Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) first seen 1974 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote by Furlang, 1974, p. 7; as quoted in Joseph Beuys and the Celtic Wor(l)d: A Language of Healing, Victoria Walters, LIT Verlag Münster, 2012, p. 206