While we have the gift of life, it seems the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die – whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our glorious uniqueness.
— Gilda RadnerThe question is not what you look at, but what you see.
— Henry David ThoreauIt’s always something.
— Gilda RadnerTaking joy in life is a woman’s best cosmetic.
— Rosalind RussellLife isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.
— UnknownCreativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
— Scott AdamsThe creative person is both more primitive and more cultivated,
— Frank X Barron
more destructive and more constructive, a lot madder and a lot saner,
than the average person.Dreams are necessary to life.
— Anais NinTime is that quality of nature which keeps events from happening all at once. Lately it doesn’t seem to be working.
— UnknownAlas for those who never sing and die with all their music in them.
— Oliver Wendell HolmesOnce the mind has been stretched by a new idea, it will never again return to its original size.
— Oliver Wendell HolmesWe don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
— Anais Nin“Dare yourself to believe in your creativity, wherever it may lead you. Trust that where it leads, is exactly where you’re supposed to be. Your authentic self knows where you’re headed. Don’t wrestle with Spirit, collaborate with it.”
— Sarah Ban BreathnachIt takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.
— e.e. cummingsTo live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
— Joseph Chilton PearceMost people see what is, and never see what can be.
— Albert EinsteinIt is a happy talent to know how to play.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonHold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
— Langston HughesI have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
— Albert EinsteinIf you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.
— Virginia WoolfA line is a dot that went for a walk.
— Paul KleeFill a space in a beautiful way.
— Georgia O’KeefeMan’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.
— Oliver Wendell HolmesThe real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
— Marcel ProustForget safety, live where you fear to live, destroy your reputation, be notorious.
— RumiYou can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
— Maya AngelouYou’ve got to keep the child alive; you can’t create without it.
— Joni MitchellThe person who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything .
— PhelpsFine art is that in which the hand. the head and the heart of man go together.
— John RuskinThe more you know, the less you understand.
— Tao Te ChingThe world of reality has limits, the world of imagination is boundless.
— Jean-Jacques RousseauImagination is intelligence having fun.
— AnonymousThe job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.
— Francis BaconIn the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
— EinsteinCreativity is really the structuring of magic.
— Anne Kent RushLet the beauty we love do what we do.
— RumiI am an artist – my work of art is my life
— SuzukiMasquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting.
— AnonymousStretch your mind and fly.
— African ProverbCreativity flourishes when we have a sense of safety and self-acceptance.
— Julia CameronThere is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect.
— G. K. ChestertonIf I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.
— Marc Chagall 1889-1985The picture is not thought out and determined beforehand, rather while it’s being made it follows the mobility of thought.
— Pablo Picasso 1881-1973The real artist work is a surprise to himself.
— Robert Henri 1865-1929The artist begins with a vision – a creative operation requiring an effort. Creativity takes courage.
— Henri Matisse 1869-1954In my basic courses I have always tried to develop discovery and invention which, in my opinion, are the criteria of creativeness.
— Josef AlbersYou can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
— Maya AngelouThe essential ingredient for creativity is wasting time.
— AnonymousCreativity is not a motive, it’s simply an attitude of open-mindedness.
— Eleanor BlairThe truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To them… a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.
— Pearl S. BuckThe creative act is not hanging on, but yielding to a new creative movement. Awe is what moves us forward.
— Joseph CampbellCreativity is essentially a lonely art. An even lonelier struggle. To some a blessing. To others a curse. It is in reality the ability to reach inside yourself and drag forth from your very soul an idea.
— Lou DorfsmanThe secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
— Albert EinsteinCreativity is the residue of time wasted.
— Albert EinsteinEach of us is an artist, capable of conceiving and creating a vision from the depths of our being.
— Dorothy FadimanCreative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.
— Anna FreudAs a suffering creature, I cannot do without something greater than I – something that is my life – the power to create.
— Vincent van GoghYou can have no recipe with art. If you follow a recipe, you’re negating the creative act.
— Denise HareThe object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.
— Robert Henri 1865-1929When the artist is alive in any person… he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressing creature. He becomes interesting to other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and he opens ways for better understanding.
— Robert Henri 1865-1929An artist’s job is to surprise himself. Use all means possible.
— Robert Henri 1865-1929Do whatever you do intensely.
— Robert Henri 1865-1929All real works of art look as though they were done in joy.
— Robert Henri 1865-1929Life is finding yourself. It is a spirit development.
— Robert Henri 1865-1929You’ve got to keep the child alive; you can’t create without it.
— Joni MitchellA creator is so completely contemporary that he has the appearance of being ahead of his generation.
— Gertrude SteinYou don’t get into the mood to create – it’s discipline.
— Twyla TharpFind a place where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.
— Joseph CampbellOpportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.
— Joseph CampbellOne looks, looks long, and the world comes in.
— Joseph Campbell“Well, I’m not a lunatic but, I’m the next best thing… I’m an artist. “
— Kristopher GentianIf you paint in your mind a picture of bright and happy expectations, you put yourself into a condition conducive to your goal.
— Norman Vincent PealeDo not wait; the time will never be “just right’.
— Napoleon Hill
Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may
have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the
— G. K. Chesterton
intellect.We don’t stop playing because we grow old,we grow old because we stop playing
— George Bernard ShawGood art is not what it looks like, but what it does to us.
— Roy AdzakAn inconvenience is an unrecognized opportunity.
— ConfuciusReal action is in silent moments.
— Ralph Waldo EmersonSimplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
— Leonardo Da VinciImagination is more important than knowledge
— Albert EinsteinIf you have to ask what Jazz is, you’ll never know.
— Louis ArmstrongWhat we play is life.
— Louis ArmstrongArt is meant to disturb.
— George BraqueAll glory comes from daring to begin.
— AnonymouosBe obscure clearly.
— E. B. WhiteTo teach is to learn twice.
— JoubertColor is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.
— Claude MonetJust as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration.
— Igor StravinskyThe univers is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
— Eden PhillpottsWheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
— ConfusiusThe voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
— Marcel ProustIt takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.
— Gertrude SteinIf you asked me what I came into this world to do, I will tell you. I came to live out loud!
— Emile ZolaCreative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training.
— Anna FreudThe secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
— Albert EinsteinAn artist who makes pictures that look good but express nothing is like a writer whose words sound good but have no meaning.
— Gerald BrommerThe best way to know life is to love many things.
— Vincent Van GoghEnthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.There is no abstract art. You must always start with something.
— Pablo PicassoThe creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect, but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.
— Carl JungIf you hear a voice within you saying “you are not a painter”, then by all means paint…and that voice will be silenced.
— Vincent Van GoghWhere the spirit does not work with the hand,
— Leonardo Da Vinci
there is no art.Ask not what the world needs;
— Phillip Thatcher
ask rather what makes your heart sing,
and go do that -
for what the world needs
is people
with hearts that sing.Life is not a success only journey.
— Phil McGrawSomewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
— Carl SaganFor the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing
— Aristotle
them.We’re fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.
— Japanese ProverbI shut my eyes in order to see.
— Paul GauginIt is not the length of life, but the depth.
— Ralph Wldo EmersonI want to know how God created the world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know his thoughts. The rest are details.
— Albert EinsteinIt is not enough for a painter to be a clever craftsman, he must love to “caress” his canvas too.
— Pierre August RenoirWe choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
— Kahlil GibranChoice by choice, moment by moment, I build the necklace of my day, stringing together the choices that form artful living.
— Julia CameronIt is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
— EinsteinYour work is to discover your work – and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.
— Buddha“All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their
— Marc Chagall
opposites.”“One never knows what one is going to do. One starts a painting and then it becomes something quite different.”
— Pablo Picasso\”Do or do not…there is no try.\”
— YodaIt is not what you look at, but what you see.
— Henry ThoreauBlessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.
— Camille PissarroLife is a succession of moments, To live each one is to succeed.
— Corita KentIf you really want to do it, you do it. There are no excuses.
— Bruce NaumanA good artist has less time than ideas.
— Martin KippenbergerArt is basically made by dissatisfied people who are willing to find some means to relieve the dissatisfaction.
— John ChamberlainNo artist is pleased. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
— Martha GrahamI do not repudiate any of my paintings, but there is not one of them that I would not redo differently.
— Henri MatisseCreativity requires introspection, self-examination, and a willingness to take risks. Because of this, artists are perhaps more susceptible to self-doubt and despair than those who do not court the creative muses.
— Eric Maisel)That painter who has no doubts will achieve little.
— Leonardo da VinciPeople who are not artists often feel that artists are inspired. But if you work at your art you don\’t have time to be inspired.
— John CageAmateurs look for inspiration; the rest of us just get up and go to work.
— Chuck CloseWhen inspiration doesn\’t come, I go halfway to meet it.
— Sigmund FreudDon\’t wait for inspiration. It comes while one is working.
— Henri MatisseInspiration exists, but it has to find you working.
— Pablo PicassoStarting to paint, I felt gloriously free, quiet, and alone.
— Henri MatisseComposition is the art of arranging in a decorative manner the various elements which the painter uses to express his sentiments. In a picture every separate part will be visible and… everything which has no utility in the picture is for that reason harmful.
— Henri MatisseI do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.
— Henri MatisseCreative people are curious, flexible, persistent and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.
— Henri MatisseAbove all, an artist must never be too easily satisfied with what he has done…
— Henri MatisseYou can\’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.
— Maya AngelouWe delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
— Maya Angelouhe essential ingredient for creativity is wasting time.
— AnonymousThe truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To them… a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.
— Pearl S. BuckCreativity is not and never has been sensible.
— Julia CameronThe secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
— Albert EinsteinEverything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
— ConfuciusArtists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons.
— Al HirschfeldEverything we can dream can be real.
— Pablo PicassoIf you surrender to the wind you can ride it.
— Toni MorrisonBe with those who help your being.
— RumiLet us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
— Marcel ProustImagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you
— George Bernard Shaw
desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
— Pablo PicassoLife is a great big canvas and you should throw all the paint on it you can
— Danny Kaye“Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I see before me, I make more arbitary use of colour to express myself more forcefully … To express the love of two lovers by the marriage of two complementary colours … To express the thought of a brow by the radiance of a light tone against a dark background. To express hope by some star. Someone’s passion by the radiance of the setting sun.”
— Vincent van Gogh, 1888.“Colour and I are one. I am a painter.”
— Paul Klee, 1914.“Colour helps to express light, not the physical phenomenon, but the only light that really exists, that in the artist’s brain.”
— Henri Matisse, 1945.“They’ll sell you thousands of greens. Veronese green and emerald green and cadmium green and any sort of green you like; but that particular green, never.”
— Pablo Picasso, 1966.“The craving for colour is a natural necessity just as for water and fire. Colour is a raw material indispensable to life. At every era of his existence and his history, the human being has associated colour with his joys, his actions and his pleasures.”
— Frenand Leger,, “On Monumentality and Color”, 1943.Over analysis leads to paralysis.
— Unknown, Heard on TV – ancing with the Stars“One gets into a state of creativity by conscious work. To prepare one’s work is first to nourish one’s feelings by studies which have a certain analogy with the picture, and it is through this that the choice of elements can be made. It is these studies which permit the painter to free his unconscious mind.”
— Matisse, Statement by Matisse to critic E Tériade on creativity, 1933; quoted in Jack Flam’s Matisse on Art p66.“As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward.”
— Vincent Van Gogh, (Letter to Theo van Gogh, c.29 October 1883)“Just slap anything on when you see a blank canvas staring you in the face like some imbecile. You don’t know how paralyzing that is, that stare of a blank canvas is, which says to the painter, ‘You can’t do a thing’. The canvas has an idiotic stare and mesmerizes some painters so much that they turn into idiots themselves. Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of `you can’t’ once and for all.”
— Vincent Van Gogh, Letter to Theo van Gogh, October 1884“We’re having marvellous weather and I wish I could send you a little of the sunshine. I am slaving away on six paintings a day. I’m giving myself a hard time over it as I haven’t yet managed to capture the colour of this landscape, there are moments when I’m appalled at the colours I’m having to use, I’m afraid what I’m doing is just dreadful and yet I really am understating it; the light is simply terrifying.”
— Monet, Colour, color, painting, landscape painting, Monet“I disklike a picture that is too suave or too skilfully done. But, contrariwise, I also dislike a picture that looks too inept or blundering.”
— Robert Motherwell (1915–1991), painting, skill, creativity
.“I never decided at all to be an artist; being an artist seems to have happened to me.”
— Anne TruittWhen I am in a painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. It is only after a sort of ‘get acquainted’ period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc, because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.”
— Jackson Pollock“Drawing is not what one sees but what one can make others see.”
— Edgar Degas“Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.” i
— Leonardo da Vinc“There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about.”
— Helen Frankenthaler“It took me 40 years to find out that painting is not sculpture.”
— Paul Cezanne“Practice what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know.”
— Rembrandt“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.”
— Pablo PicassoI found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way–things I had no words for.
— Georgia O’Keeffe“Of all the arts, abstract painting is the most difficult. It demands that you know how to draw well, that you have a heightened sensitivity for composition and for colours, and that you be a true poet. This last is essential.”
— Wassily Kandinsky.Art is the set of wings to carry you out of your own entanglements.
— Joseph Campbell“Stuff your eyes with wonder; live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.”
— Ray Bradbury
