Quotes on Art

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.

If thou art willing to suffer no adversity, how wilt thou be the friend of Christ?

Everything that is of authentic value in life has arisen out of meditation. There is no other way. Meditation is the mother of art, music, poetry, dance, sculpture. All that is creative, all that is life-affirmative, is born out of meditation. All that is life-negative - hate, anger, jealousy, violence, war - is born out of the mind. Man has two possibilities: mind and meditation.

I believe in Michelangelo, Velasquez, and Rembrandt; in the might of design, the mystery of color, the redemption of all things by Beauty everlasting, and the message of Art that has made these hands blessed. Amen. Amen.

Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life.

Slowly poetry becomes visual because it paints images, but it is also musical: it unites two arts into one.

The stage is not merely the meeting place of all the arts, but is also the return of art to life.

The source of genius is imagination alone, the refinement of the senses that sees what others do not see, or sees them differently.

The artist is the antenna of the race.

Perpetual modernism is the measure of merit in every work of art.

Both in thy private sessions, and the universal assizes, thou shalt be sure of the same Judge, the same jury, the same witnesses, the same verdict. How certain thou art to die, thou knowest; how soon to die, thou knowest not. Measure not thy life with the longest; that were to piece it out with flattery. Thou canst name no living man, not the sickest, which thou art sure shall die before thee.

Thou art beaten that thou mayest be better.

Imagination is not a talent of some men but is the health of every man.

Arise, transcend Thyself, Thou art man and the whole nature of man Is to become more than himself.

Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.

Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.

Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.

One learns first of all in beach living the art of shedding; how little one can get along with, not how much.

O Music! Miraculous art! A blast of thy trumpet and millions rush forward to die; a peal of thy organ and uncounted nations sink down to pray.

This beginning with Audacity, or being thrown into the middle of it, is already a very great part of the art of painting.

Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives...most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the results of creativity...when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life.