Art Quotes

“When I am finishing a picture, I hold some God-made object up to it - a rock, a flower, the branch of a tree or my hand - as a final test. If the painting stands up beside a thing man cannot make, the painting is authentic. If there's a clash between the two, it's bad art.”

-- Marc Chagall

“It seems almost backwards to me that my music seems the more emotional outlet, and the art stuff seems more about ideas.”

-- David Byrne

“The artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.”

-- Paul Strand

“I've got tonnes of aboriginal and Native American art, but I'd like even more.”

-- Tori Amos

“Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art.”

-- Ambrose Bierce

“If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that... I believe in what I do, and I'll say it.”

-- John Lennon

“Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so. For, those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow. Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.”

-- John Donne

“The art of pleasing consists in being pleased.”

-- William Hazlitt

“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.”

-- Pablo Picasso

“An artist cannot fail it is a success to be one.”

-- Charles Horton Cooley