Art Quotes

“In my world, history comes down to language and art. No one cares much about what battles were fought, who won them and who lost them - unless there is a painting, a play, a song or a poem that speaks of the event.”

-- Theodore Bikel

“In fact, in many ways my mother was quite hippy-dippy, serving macrobiotic food and reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.'”

-- Kristin Scott Thomas

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

-- Edgar Degas

“Science is spectral analysis. Art is light synthesis.”

-- Karl Kraus

“What is art? Nature concentrated.”

-- Honore de Balzac

“I went into the business for the money, and the art grew out of it. If people are disillusioned by that remark, I can't help it. It's the truth.”

-- Charlie Chaplin

“I don't think there is such a thing as being too raunchy when it comes to the art form of burlesque.”

-- Christina Aguilera

“Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts - the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art.”

-- John Ruskin

“Art is born of humiliation.”

-- W. H. Auden

“Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.”

-- Tom Stoppard