# Quotes about art - Quotes: 29 - Authors: 12 - Narrower topics: [music](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/music.md) - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art ## Quotes > Whistler could produce art; and in so far he was a great man. But he could not forget art; and in so far he was only a man with the artistic temperament. There can be no stronger manifestation of the man who is a really great artist than the fact that he can dismiss the subject of art; that he can, upon due occasion, wish art at the bottom of the sea. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/whistler-could-produce.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > The men who have really been the bold artists, the realistic artists, the uncompromising artists, are the men who have turned out, after all, to be writing "with a purpose." [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/the-men-who.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md) > Any man with a vital knowledge of the human psychology ought to have the most profound suspicion of anybody who claims to be an artist, and talks a great deal about art. Art is a right and human thing, like walking or saying one's prayers; but the moment it begins to be talked about very solemnly, a man may be fairly certain that the thing has come into a congestion and a kind of difficulty. The artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs. It is a disease which arises from men not having sufficient power of expression to utter and get rid of the element of art in their being. It is healthful to every sane man to utter the art within him; it is essential to every sane man to get rid of the art within him at all costs. Artists of a large and wholesome vitality get rid of their art easily, as they breathe easily, or perspire easily. But in artists of less force, the thing becomes a pressure, and produces a definite pain, which is called the artistic temperament. Thus, very great artists are able to be ordinary men—men like Shakespeare or Browning. There are many real tragedies of the artistic temperament, tragedies of vanity or violence or fear. But the great tragedy of the artistic temperament is that it cannot produce any art. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/any-man-with.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > It need hardly be said that this is the real explanation of the thing which has puzzled so many dilettante critics, the problem of the extreme ordinariness of the behaviour of so many great geniuses in history. Their behaviour was so ordinary that it was not recorded; hence it was so ordinary that it seemed mysterious. Hence people say that Bacon wrote Shakespeare. The modern artistic temperament cannot understand how a man who could write such lyrics as Shakespeare wrote, could be as keen as Shakespeare was on business transactions in a little town in Warwickshire. The explanation is simple enough; it is that Shakespeare had a real lyrical impulse, wrote a real lyric, and so got rid of the impulse and went about his business. Being an artist did not prevent him from being an ordinary man, any more than being a sleeper at night or being a diner at dinner prevented him from being an ordinary man. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/it-need-hardly.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > A man cannot be wise enough to be a great artist without being wise enough to wish to be a philosopher. A man cannot have the energy to produce good art without having the energy to wish to pass beyond it. A small artist is content with art; a great artist is content with nothing except everything. [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [Heretics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/heretics/a-man-cannot.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > As we, or mother Dana, weave and unweave our bodies, Stephen said, from day to day, their molecules shuttled to and fro, so does the artist weave and unweave his image. [James Joyce](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce.md) · [Ulysses](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses/as-we-or-mother.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > It is a symbol of Irish art. The cracked lookingglass of a servant. [James Joyce](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce.md) · [Ulysses](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-joyce/ulysses/it-is-a-symbol.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > Bringing in a wounded soldier is getting to be rather like waving an American flag at the end of an act. One cannot harbor feelings of unmixed admiration for the playwright who will hide behind either of them. p. 250 [Dorothy Parker](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dorothy-parker.md) · [Dorothy Parker: Poems](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dorothy-parker/dorothy-parker-poems.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dorothy-parker/dorothy-parker-poems/bringing-in-a-wounded.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > You won’t be an artist if you live a thousand years. You’re merely an expert, and you know it. Those who can—do, those who can’t—criticise. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke.md) · p. 294 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/you-wont-be-an-artist.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [talent](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/talent.md) > Great art and domestic bliss are mutually incompatible. Sooner or later, you'll have to make your choice. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke.md) · p. 298 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/great-art-and.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > If the artist did not know his goal, even the most miraculous of tools could not find it for him. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The City And The Stars](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars.md) · p. 13 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars/if-the-artist.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > There still remained, for all men to share, the linked worlds of love and art. Linked, because love without art is merely the slaking of desire, and art cannot be enjoyed unless it is approached with love. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The City And The Stars](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars.md) · p. 37 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars/there-still-remained.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > The secret story is the one we'll never know, although we're living it from day to day, thinking we're alive, thinking we've got it all under control and the stuff we overlook doesn't matter. But every single damn thing matters! Only we don't realize. We just tell ourselves that art runs on one track and life, our lives, on another, and we don't realize that's a lie. Last Evenings On Earth Topics: [life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life.md), [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > When I have to think about it, I know the picture is wrong. And sizing is a form of thinking and coloring is too. My instinct about painting says, 'If you don’t think about it, it's right'. As soon as you have to decide and choose, it's wrong. And the more you decide about, the more wrong it gets. Some people, they paint abstract, so they sit there thinking about it because their thinking makes them feel they're doing something. But my thinking never makes me feel I'm doing anything. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol · p. 149 Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > I really believe in empty spaces, although, as an artist, I make a lot of junk. Empty space is never-wasted space. Wasted space is any space that has art in it. An artist is somebody who produces things that people don't need to have but that he, for some reason, thinks it would be a good idea to give them. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > Business art is the step that comes after Art. I started as a commercial artist, and I want to finish as a business artist. After I did the thing called 'art' or whatever it's called, I went into business art. I wanted to be an Art Businessman or a Business Artist. Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. During the hippies era people put down the idea of business – they'd say 'Money is bad', and 'Working is bad', but making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol · p. 92 Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [money](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money.md) > The curtain fell on an apotheosis, wherein the Cuckold's Chorus knelt and sang a hymn of gratitude to Venus, who stood there with smiling lips, her stature enhanced by her sovran nudity. Nana Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > The aim of art, the aim of a life can only be to increase the sum of freedom and responsibility to be found in every man and in the world. It cannot, under any circumstances, be to reduce or suppress that freedom, even temporarily. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [Resistance, Rebellion, and Death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/resistance-rebellion-and-death.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/resistance-rebellion-and-death/the-aim-of-art.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [responsibility](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/responsibility.md) > For those of us who have been thrown into hell, mysterious melodies and the torturing images of a vanished beauty will always bring us, in the midst of crime and folly, the echo of that harmonious insurrection which bears witness, throughout the centuries, to the greatness of humanity. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Rebel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/for-those-of-us-who.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [beauty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty.md) > Art, at least, teaches us that man cannot be explained by history alone and that he also finds a reason for his existence in the order of nature. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Rebel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/art-at-least.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [meaning of life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life.md) > Artistic creation is a demand for unity and a rejection of the world. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Rebel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/artistic-creation-is-a-demand.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > The artist reconstructs the world to his plan. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Rebel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/the-artist-reconstructs.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > Art is the activity that exalts and denies simultaneously. "No artist tolerates reality," says Nietzsche. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [The Rebel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/the-rebel/art-is-the.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > It is only through science and art that civilization is of value. Some have wondered at the formula: science for its own sake; an yet it is as good as life for its own sake, if life is only misery; and even as happiness for its own sake, if we do not believe that all pleasures are of the same quality... > > Every act should have an aim. We must suffer, we must work, we must pay for our place at the game, but this is for seeing's sake; or at the very least that others may one day see. [Henri Poincaré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare.md) · [The Value of Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henri-poincare/the-value-of-science/it-is-only.md) Topics: [science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science.md), [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > I used to worship the mighty genius of Michael Angelo — that man who was great in poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture — great in every thing he undertook. But I do not want Michael Angelo for breakfast — for luncheon — for dinner — for tea — for supper — for between meals. I like a change, occasionally. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [The Innocents Abroad](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-innocents-abroad.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-innocents-abroad/i-used-to-worship.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language ... not in a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. [Aristotle](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle.md) · [Poetics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/poetics.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/aristotle/poetics/a-tragedy-then.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [literature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/literature.md) > The public want actresses, because they think all actresses bad. They don't want music or poetry because they know that both are good. So actors and actresses thrive and poets and composers starve. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [Love Among The Artists](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/love-among-the-artists.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/love-among-the-artists/the-public-want.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > If you leave your art, the world will beat you back to it. The world has not an ambition worth sharing, or a prize worth handling. Corrupt successes, disgraceful failures, or sheeplike vegetation are all it has to offer. I prefer Art, which gives me a sixth sense of beauty, with self-respect: perhaps also an immortal reputation in return for honest endeavour in a labour of love. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [Love Among The Artists](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/love-among-the-artists.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/love-among-the-artists/if-you-leave.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md) > Perhaps woman's art is of woman's life a thing apart, 'tis man's whole existence; just as love is said to be the reverse — though it isn't. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [Love Among The Artists](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/love-among-the-artists.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/love-among-the-artists/perhaps-womans-art.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md)