14,373 Quotes About Art

He thought that the rose was to be found in its own eternity and not in his words; and that we may mention or allude to a thing, but not express it.

We watch the kites circling, and I imagine them setting fire to the way my life has been before this moment. I imagine the smoke reshaping me. I reimagine myself as my first work, the art that comes before all other art I might one day make, the work I fashion only for myself and for those who have the eyes to see it.

The art of life is not controlling what happens to us, but using what happens to us

The ideal art, the noblest of art: working with the complexities of life, refusing to simplify, to "overcome" doubt.

To discover the mode of life or of art whereby my spirit could express itself in unfettered freedom.

Human impotence necessitates art.

An artist looks at a piece of paper or holds an instrument in hand and then stops, going “off-hook.” These are the precious moments of the reverie—the “dial-up” preceding a possible “handshake,” following which the connection is put through and the flow begins.

Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument. The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him.

We are often taught to look for the beauty in all things, so in finding it, the layman asks the philosopher while the philosopher asks the photographer.