Explore Quotes by Henry Moore

I sometimes draw just for its own enjoyment.

There is a right physical size for every idea.

The important thing is somehow to begin.

You must always be open to your luck. You cannot force it, but you can recognize it.

Art is the expression of imagination, not the reproduction of reality.

Nothing raises the price of a blessing like its removal; whereas, it was its continuance which should have taught us its value. [It is wise to be grateful of what we have while we have it.]

I find in all the artists that I admire most a disturbing element, a distortion, giving evidence of a struggle . . . . In great art, this conflict is hidden, it is unresolved. All that is bursting with energy is disturbing - not perfect.

The observation of nature is part of an artist's life, it enlarges his form [and] knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration.

All art is an abstraction to some degree.

Between beauty of expression and power of expression there is a difference of function. The first aims at pleasing the senses, the second has a spiritual vitality which for me is more moving and goes deeper than the senses.

All art should have a certain mystery and should make demands on the spectator. Giving a sculpture or a drawing too explicit a title takes away part of that mystery so that the spectator moves on to the next object, making no effort to ponder the meaning of what he has just seen. Everyone thinks that he or she looks but they don't really, you know.

Discipline in art is a fundamental struggle to understand oneself, as much as to understand what one is drawing.

One never knows what each day is going to bring. The important thing is to be open and ready for it.

Recently I have been working in the country, where, carving in the open air, I find sculpture more natural than in a London studio, but it needs bigger dimensions. A large piece of stone or wood placed almost anywhere at random in a field, orchard, or garden, immediately looks right and inspiring.

Because a work does not aim at reproducing natural appearances it is not, therefore, an escape from life -- but may be a penetration into reality...as expression of the significance of life, a stimulation to greater effort in living.

There is nothing greater than enthusiasm.

To know one thing, you must know the opposite.

The creative habit is like a drug. The particular obsession changes, but the excitement, the thrill of your creation lasts.

It is a mistake for a sculptor or a painter to speak or write very often about his job. It releases tension needed for his work.

A sculptor is a person who is interested in the shape of things, a poet in words, a musician by sounds.

I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the years'.