A bit of advice, don't copy nature too closely. Art is an abstraction; as you dream amid nature, extrapolate art from it, and concentrate on what you will create as a result.
Paul GauguinRead
Under the continual contact with the pebbles my feet have become hardened and used to the ground. My body, almost constantly nude, no longer suffers from the sun. Civilization is falling from me little by little. I am beginning to think simply, to feel only very little hatred for my neighbor - rather, to love him.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the idea of simplifying life and embracing a more natural existence, leading to greater understanding and love for others.
In this quote, Paul Gauguin expresses his journey toward simplicity and a deep connection with nature, suggesting that the more he immerses himself in the natural world, the more his physical and emotional burdens dissipate. He highlights the process of shedding the complexities and pressures of civilization, ultimately leading to increased compassion and love for those around him, reflecting a profound philosophical transformation.
Themes
NatureSimplicityLoveCivilizationUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
To emphasize the importance of simplicity and connection with nature during a motivational speech.
More from Paul Gauguin
All quotes →A critic in my house sees some paintings. Greatly perturbed, he asks for my drawings. My drawings? Never! They are my letters, my secrets.
Paul GauguinRead
A hint - don't paint too much direct from nature. Art is an abstraction! study nature then brood on it and treasure the creation which will result, which is the only way to ascend towards God - to create like our Divine Master.
Paul GauguinRead
Life has no meaning unless one lives it with a will, at least to the limit of one's will. Virtue, good, evil are nothing but words, unless one takes them apart in order to build something with them; they do not win their true meaning until one knows how to apply them.
Paul GauguinRead
The flat sound of my wooden clogs on the cobblestones, deep, hollow and powerful, is the note I seek in my painting.
Paul GauguinRead
Art is either plagiarism or revolution.
Paul GauguinRead
Similar quotes
It is necessary to posit something which is necessary of itself, and has no cause of its necessity outside of itself but is the cause of necessity in other things. And all people call this thing God.
Thomas AquinasRead
The average well-being of our societies is not dependent any longer on national income and economic growth. ... But the differences between us and where we are in relation to each other now matter very much.
Richard G. WilkinsonRead
We live in a society in which spurious realities are manufactured by the media, by governments, by big corporations, by religious groups, political groups. I ask, in my writing, 'What is real?' Because unceasingly we are bombarded with pseudo realities manufactured by very sophisticated people using very sophisticated electronic mechanisms.
Philip K. DickRead
No theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain, yet it is not always the theory that is to blame. Facts are constituted by older ideologies, and a clash between facts and theories may be proof of progress. It is also a first step in our attempt to find the principles implicit in familiar observational notions.
Paul FeyerabendRead
What is faith? If you believe something because you have evidence for it, or rational argument, that is not faith. So faith seems to be believing something despite the absence of evidence or rational argument for it.
Peter SingerRead
You cannot further the Brotherhood of Man by encouraging class hatred.
Paul GettyRead