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Quotes about art

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It is more dangerous to be a great prophet or poet than to promote twenty companies for swindling simple folk out of their savings.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Misalliance (1910), Preface
- Business
- Poetry
Art is in itself noble; that is why the artist has no fear of what is common. This, indeed, is already ennobled when he takes it up.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1749–1832Maxims and Reflections (1833), Maxim 61, trans. Stopp
The truth is, that those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded.
Herbert Spencer1820–1903“What Knowledge Is of Most Worth?” (1859), in Education (1861), Ch. 1
- Poetry
- Science
The only thing one can give an artist is leisure in which to work. To give an artist leisure is actually to take part in his creation.
Ezra Pound1885–1972New Age, March 30, 1922. As quoted in Impact: Essays on Ignorance and the Decline of American Civilization edited by Noel Stock, 1960
- Work
By dint of declaration the so-called Cinema Verité is devoid of verité. It reaches a merely superficial truth, the truth of accountants.
Werner Herzogborn 1942Minnesota declaration (1999)
- Movies
- Truth & Lies
So long as the system of competition in the production and exchange of the means of life goes on, the degradation of the arts will go on.
William Morris1834–1896“Art Under Plutocracy” (1883)
- Economics
I say one must be a seer, make oneself a seer. The poet makes himself a seer by an immense, long, deliberate derangement of all the senses.
Arthur Rimbaud1854–1891Letter to Paul Demeny (May 15, 1871)
- Poetry
If I abandon this project I would be a man without dreams and I don’t want to live like that: I live my life or I end my life with this project.
Werner Herzogborn 1942Herzog on Herzog (2002), Said while making Fitzcarraldo
- Motivation & Goals
- Movies
Slowly I discovered the secret of my art. It consists of a meditation on nature, on the expression of a dream which is always inspired by reality.
Henri Matisse1869–1954“Interview with Henri Matisse” by Jacques Guenne, L’Art Vivant (15 September 1925), translated by Jack Flam in Matisse on Art (1995)
- Nature
Judges of elegance and taste consider themselves as benefactors to the human race, whilst they are really only the interrupters of their pleasure.
Jeremy Bentham1748–1832Théorie des peines et des récompenses (1811); translation by Richard Smith, The Rationale of Reward, J. & H. L. Hunt, London, 1825, Bk. 3, Ch. 1
- Clever Jabs
The Genius of Poetry must work out its own salvation in a man: It cannot be matured by law and precept, but by sensation and watchfulness in itself.
John Keats1795–1821To James Hessey (9 October 1818)
- Genius
- Poetry
We work in the dark — we do what we can — we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.
Henry James1843–1916The Middle Years (1893)
Poetry Fetter’d. Fetters the Human Race. Nations are Destroy’d, or Flourish, in proportion as Their Poetry, Painting, and Music are Destroy’d or Flourish!
William Blake1757–1827Jerusalem The Emanation of The Giant Albion (c. 1803–1820)
- Music
- Poetry
What is line? It is life. A line must live at each point along its course in such a way that the artist’s presence makes itself felt above that of the model.
Jean Cocteau1889–1963“De la Ligne” in La Difficulté d’Etre [The Difficulty of Being] (1947)
The outlet for my work is not just the music and the videos, it’s every breathing moment of my life. I’m always saying something about art and music and fame.
Lady Gagaborn 1986The world goes crazy for Lady Gaga (2009)
- Fame