677 Quotes by Vincent Van Gogh

If there is anything I regret then it is that period when I allowed mystical and theological profundities to mislead me into withdrawing too much into myself.…..When you wake up in the morning and find you are not alone but can see a fellow creature there in the half-light, it makes the world look so much more welcoming. Much ,more welcoming than the devotional journals and whitewashed church walls beloved of clergymen.

You can live to be old or young, but you'll always have moments when you lose your head.

Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you're put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.

And then there are painters who never do anything that is no good, who cannot do anything bad, just as there are ordinary people who can do nothing but good.

I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate.

If one wants to be active, one mustn’t be afraid to do something wrong sometimes, not afraid to lapse into some mistakes. To be good — many people think that they’ll achieve it by doing no harm — and that’s a lie… That leads to stagnation, to mediocrity. Just slap something on it when you see a blank canvas staring at you with a sort of imbecility.

I would sooner paint people's eyes than cathedrals, for there is something in the eyes that is lacking in a cathedral - however solemn and impressive it may be. To my mind a man's soul, be it that of a poor beggar or of a streetwalker, is more interesting.

И не надо принимать слишком близко к сердцу свои недостатки, ибо тот, у кого их нет, все же страдает одним - отсутствием недостатков; тот же, кто полагает, что достиг совершенной мудрости, хорошо сделает, если поглупеет снова.

There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder even—the French air clears up the brain and does good—a world of good.