Vincent Van Gogh
painter, botanical illustrator, draftsperson, printmaker, architectural draftsperson, etcher, lithographer, graphic artist, art dealer
Read on Wikipedia1853 – 1890
All Quotes by Vincent Van Gogh
“Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious, to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say, ‘What do I care if there is a summer; its warmth is no help to me now.’ Yes, evil often seems to surpass good. But then, in spite of us, and without our permission, there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and there is a thaw. And so I must still have hope.”
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
“If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
“In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.”
“Seek only light and freedom and do not immerse yourself too deeply in the worldly mire.”
“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.”
“La tristesse durera toujours.”
“Those Dutchmen had hardly any imagination or fantasy, but their good taste and their scientific knowledge of composition were enormous.”
“Love always brings difficulties, that is true, but the good side of it is that it gives energy.”
“it was in this extreme poverty that I felt my energy return and that I said to myself, in any event I’ll recover from it, I’ll pick up my pencil that I put down in my great discouragement and I’ll get back to drawing, and from then on, it seems to me, everything has changed for me, and now I’m on my way and my pencil has become somewhat obedient and seems to become more so day by day. It was poverty, too long and too severe, that had discouraged me to the point where I could no longer do anything.”
“Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.”
“The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.”
“Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again.”
“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”
“Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.”
“Those Dutchmen had hardly any imagination or fantasy, but their good taste and their scientific knowledge of composition were enormous.”
“One must work and dare if one really wants to live.”
“There may be a great fire in our hearts, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke.”
“But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.”
“I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.”
“I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed.”
“I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed.”
“I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”
“The way to know life is to love many things.”
“It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning.”
“The best way to know God is to love many things.”
“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.”
“I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.”
“If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
“I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.”
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
“I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”
“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”
“I see drawings and pictures in the poorest of huts and the dirtiest of corners.”
“I wish they would only take me as I am.”
“One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.”
“One must work and dare if one really wants to live.”
“The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.”
“There may be a great fire in our hearts, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke.”
“Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.”
“The best way to know God is to love many things.”
“Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again.”
“A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.”
“It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for pictures.”
“How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?”
“Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.”
“It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent.”
“If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things.”
“Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.”
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.”
“I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.”
“The way to know life is to love many things.”
“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.”
“There is no blue without yellow and without orange.”
“As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.”
“Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.”
“I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed.”
“Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.”
“When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.”
“In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.”
“Love always brings difficulties, that is true, but the good side of it is that it gives energy.”
“Conscience is a man's compass.”
“Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul.”
“But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.”
“If boyhood and youth are but vanity, must it not be our ambition to become men?”
“I can very well do without God both in my life and in my painting, but I cannot, suffering as I am, do without something which is greater than I am, which is my life, the power to create.”
“I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.”
“Those Dutchmen had hardly any imagination or fantasy, but their good taste and their scientific knowledge of composition were enormous.”
“An artist needn't be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.”