Art Quotes

“Works of art often last forever, or nearly so. But exhibitions themselves, especially gallery exhibitions, are like flowers they bloom and then they die, then exist only as memories, or pressed in magazines and books.”

-- Jerry Saltz

“A nation devoid of art and artists cannot have a full existence.”

-- Kemal Ataturk

“The counterfeit and counterpart of Nature is reproduced in art.”

-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”

-- Emile Zola

“I think most of the people involved in any art always secretly wonder whether they are really there because they're good or there because they're lucky.”

-- Katharine Hepburn

“I have a small house so I borrow everything except art, that's what I love.”

-- Salma Hayek

“The principle of art is to pause, not bypass.”

-- Jerzy Kosinski

“Don't be an art critic. Paint. There lies salvation.”

-- Paul Cezanne

“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

“Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.”

-- Will Rogers