Here are some of my favorite quotations to inspire and inform people in the arts.
ARTISTS ARE POWERFULLY MOTIVATED
- “Painters and poets alike have always had license to dare anything.” (Horace)
- “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon one can never resist or understand.” (George Orwell)
- “Art is a kind of illness.” (Giacomo Puccini)
- “The excellency of every art is its intensity.” (John Keats)
- “To burn always with this hard, gem-like flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.” (Walter Pater)
- “Art is the only thing that can goes on mattering once it has stopped hurting.” (Elizabeth Bowen)
- “Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart go together.” (John Ruskin)
- “Gifts like genius, I often think, means only an infinite capacity for taking pains.” (Jane E. Hopkins)
- “The incurable itch of writing possesses many.” (Juvenal)
- “The composer’s principal problem is that of recapturing in every phase of his work …the energy which keeps it going…of bringing, in other words, the requisite amount of energy to bear on every detail, as well as constantly on his vision of the whole.” (Roger Sessions)
- “The artist does not see things as they are, but as he is.” (Arthur Tonnelle)
THE OVERRIDING PURPOSES OF ART HAVE BEEN THE SAME SINCE THE CAVE PAINTERS–OR BEFORE
- “It is art that makes life, makes intensity, makes importance…and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.” (Henry James)
- “Art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass.” (Walter Pater)
- “Art is not an end in itself, but a means of addressing humanity.” (Mussorgsky)
- The artist “speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives, to our sense of pity and beauty, and pain.” (Joseph Conrad)
- “Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen.” (Leo Tolstoy)
- “The art of dancing stands at the source of all the arts that express themselves first in the human person.” (Havelock Ellis)
- “It is through art and through art only, that we realize our perfection; through art and art only that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.” (Oscar Wilde)
- “The most truly satisfactory reward a writer ever gets is the moment he holds that book in his hand and says, ‘This is my baby”….It is an accomplished fact and it is yours.” (John O’Hara).
- “Great art is as irrational as great music. It is made with its own loveliness.” (George Jean Nathan)
- A writer must leave “no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed–love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.” (William Faulkner)
- “All art constantly aspires toward the condition of music.” (Walter Pater)
A WORK OF ART SHOULD BE CONSISTENTLY GOOD THROUGHOUT
- “A work that aspires, however humbly, to the condition of art should carry its justification in every line.” (Joseph Conrad)
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE WORKING ON
- I was working on a story and it was very difficult for me to go on and I dawdled and dawdled. Then I realized I didn’t like the characters, didn’t like the plot, didn’t like anything about the piece though the quality of the writing was good. I stopped when I read: “One may do whatever one likes in art: the only thing is to make sure that one does like it.” (Robert Browning)
- “Until the artist is satisfied with what he is doing, he continues shaping and reshaping. He stops when he thinks it’s good.” (John Dewey)
Among the topics to come in the next posts:
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SMALL ART AND GREAT ART
UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS NOT POSSIBE TO DESCRIBE THE COMPLETE, COMPLEX STRUCTURE OF KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS AN EXPERT ARTIST HAS ACQUIRED
THE VALUE IN ALL ARTS OF SUCCINCTNESS, INCLUDING ONLY WHAT IS ESSENTIAL
ARTISTS ARE BY NATURE INDEPENDENT, RESTLESS, AND CONFIDENT OF THEIR TALENT
MOST ARTISTS HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR
HOW ART WORKS: THE ROLE OF THE ARTIST
And more.
© 2017 David J. Rogers
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Hello David 😊 gorgeous quotes here. There was something I particularly liked about this one: “Art is the only thing that can goes on mattering once it has stopped hurting.” (Elizabeth Bowen)
I agree, and I would also add love to art. It seems silly that art and love should hurt, but they do, because we are closed, and it hurts to open. But once we are open… ❤️ I hope you are well xo
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Sara, old friend, it’s so good to hear from you. I particularly like the Bowen quote too. You talk about writers opening up, and that makes me think of our earliest conversations when we talked about your reluctance to open up. Do you remember?
I like so many quotations in this post. For example, Keats’ “The excellency of every art is its intensity.” Man, do I love intensity and intense people–creative people, for example.
I’ve been so busy with family things that I haven’t had very much time to write or to read the blogs I enjoy most, like yours–they’re always so jam-packed with wisdom.
I hope you and yours are all well, and I look forward to talking with you again soon.
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❤️❤️❤️
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Ditto from me to you.
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This is fabulous, David. Ever since school debating I have loved quotes, where an erudite quotation was like a secret weapon in your armoury, words so succinctly put, that the essence of an original thought was distilled and powerful. I look forward to seeing the rest of your series and referring back to them.
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Michelle, thank you for looking in on my post. I’m so glad you like it. So now I can add debater to my idea of you.
As you can see, I love quotes too. I’ve got so many of them.
The season is changing here into summer. We are expecting temperatures close to 100 degrees F for the next few days. Is that too hot for roses? Does it get that hot down by you in Australia? By the way, my mother once won a men’s tie on a radio show by correctly answering the question, “Why do they call Australia ‘the land down under.'” So you can see why my family has always had a fondess for Australia.
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David, we get a few days of around 100 degrees F here each Summer and whilst temperatures that high can cause crisping of the rose blooms where the edges of the petals dry out and deepen in colour, a well-hydrated bush won’t be affected long term and of course roses love sunshine and I guess you’ll be getting plenty of that.
I loved the story of your mother’s competition prowess, as my mother’s skill at writing a response in 25 words or less and her penchant for decorating envelopes sent our family on overseas trips a number of times!
I can see you are a collector of quotes, but do you have a list of your own quotes, do you write your own words of wisdom in quote form, it would be wonderful to quote you.
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Michelle, I didn’t realize that roses could survive in such hot temperatures. Now I do. Your mother was a habitual contestant, and successful. A great story.
Thank you for suggesting I do a compilation of my quotes. I think I’ll do it.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
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I loved reading all these quotes….They bring home that artists of all disciplines have the same desires, feelings, anguish and in that knowledge I find great comfort. Like you in the States, we are going through some very difficult political times in the UK….Each and every day I say thank you that I am an artist…that I can lose myself into something much more important than fickle politics which will ultimately disappear into the ether. 🙂 I would also love to hear some of your quotes…..Please.
Thank you so much for your tireless support and understanding of the arts….I remember the first time I read your blog and was so excited because I knew that you as a fellow artist really knew and understood……….Janet 🙂
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Janet, I’m so moved when you talk about me, and I wonder if I am deserving of such compliments, but you make me happy.
There are so many activities, subjects, disciplines, news items, concerns, conversational topics, and the like that I have no interest in at all, just like, of course, most people in some way in the arts. I recently said to my daughter that what I love most is looking at my calendar and having absolutely nothing to do for the next three months. Then I can get some work done. And she said, “Dad, that’s impossible!” I said, “I know, but I can hope, can’t I?” As you well know, my strong belief is that the first goal of the creative person should be to produce works–production–which you are so good at.
As long as I’ve known you, I’ve felt that somehow out of two lives spent so far apart, similar insights and values appeared. Yet when I read any writing you do, I find something new and fascinating I didn’t know before.
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These is one of my favorite quotes:
“Art is a human activity having for its purpose the
transmission to other of the highest and best feelings
to which men have risen(Leo Tolstoy)”.
It was so nice to see you with Diane last two weeks.
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Hello Marilucas. Yes, I enjoyed these quotes too. It was good to see you too. Hope you’re enjoying these summery days.
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Hello, David. I enjoyed the quotes you shared in this post. I especially liked the ones from Joseph Conrad and William Faulkner. If I follow Conrad’s words of wisdom, though, my manuscript will never pass the test.
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Janet, Who can go wrong listening to Conrad and Faulkner? They are two of my favorites at least. I am glad you like quotes and seem interested in learning from them. Me too. I hope you see some of them reflected in your routines and writing.
Best wishes,
David
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