Best Art Quotes to Inspire, Uplift & Motivate You Every Day

“Works of art, in my opinion, are the only objects in the material universe to possess internal order, and that is why, though I don't believe that only art matters, I do believe in Art for Art's sake.”

“Nothing is art if it does not come from nature.”

“Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws.”

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.”

“The artist one day falls through a hole in the brambles, and from that moment he is following the dark rapids of an underground river which may sometimes flow so near to the surface that the laughing picnic parties are heard above.”

“What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.”

“Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”

“What distinguishes modern art from the art of other ages is criticism.”

“The artist belongs to his work, not the work to the artist.”

“Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.”

“Be not affronted at a joke. If one throw salt at thee, thou wilt receive no harm, unless thou art raw.”

“Films for TV have to be much closer to the book, mainly because the objective with a TV movie that translates literature is to get the audience, after seeing this version, to pick up the book and read it themselves. My attitude is that TV can never really be any form of art, because it serves audience expectations.”

“Artists themselves are not confined, but their output is.”

“Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn't exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.”

“Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper.”

“Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.”

“Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.”

“With time, art developed Bip, my alter ego. He was not only a lion tamer or a street musician but a soldier revealing the tragedy of ephemeral life.”

“What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house.”

“Politics is the art of controlling your environment.”

“Whether it be personal or musical, I just think I'm a walking art piece, just a ball of creativity.”

“Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.”

“Art is the child of Nature; yes, her darling child, in whom we trace the features of the mother's face, her aspect and her attitude.”

“The importance of art is in the process of doing it, in the learning experience where the artist interacts with whatever is being made.”

“Politics with me isn't theater. It's performance art. Sometimes, for its own sake.”

“In every ancient culture, there are rituals to mortify the body as a way of understanding that the energy of the soul is indestructible. The more I think about energy, the simpler my art becomes, because it is just about pure presence.”

“In art, the obvious is a sin.”

“The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.”

“Words may be false and full of art; Sighs are the natural language of the heart.”

“It has always been difficult for Man to realize that his life is all an art. It has been more difficult to conceive it so than to act it so. For that is always how he has more or less acted it.”

“The basis of art is truth, both in matter and in mode.”

“A high culture is the self-consciousness of a society. It contains the works of art, literature, scholarship and philosophy that establish a shared frame of reference among educated people.”

“Even though you can't expect to defeat the absurdity of the world, you must make the attempt. That's morality, that's religion, that's art, that's life.”

“'Untitled' is a time machine that can transport you to 1992, an edgy moment when the art world was crumbling, money was scarce, and artists like Tiravanija were in the nascent stages of combining Happenings, performance art, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, and the do-it-yourself ethos of punk. Meanwhile, a new art world was coming into being.”

“Painting and writing are solitary arts.”

“Nature is the art of God.”

“Art is nothing but the expression of our dream; the more we surrender to it the closer we get to the inner truth of things, our dream-life, the true life that scorns questions and does not see them.”

“Every great work of art has two faces, one toward its own time and one toward the future, toward eternity.”

“My eyes were made to erase all that is ugly.”

“Art is everywhere, and everywhere is art.”

“Live theater is an amorphous art, constantly shifting and evolving with every performance.”

“I definitely believe that art is the best way to produce social change.”

“Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass.”

“Clay can be dirt in the wrong hands, but clay can be art in the right hands.”

“Wisdom is nothing but a preparation of the soul, a capacity, a secret art of thinking, feeling and breathing thoughts of unity at every moment of life.”

“Everything that has ever been called folk art has always reflected domination.”

“An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world.”

“Art is for everybody.”

“A lot of actors on film sets... very often they're not paying attention to the physical world around them. I think through studying art, I've always had that awareness and that's something that I've wanted to bring in to go beyond acting... As a form of expression, they are intrinsically linked.”

“I wanted to open the dialogue about race in ballet and bring more people in. It's just beautiful to see the interest that has exploded for such an incredible art form that I will forever be grateful to!”

“You can't do sketches enough. Sketch everything and keep your curiosity fresh.”

“Envy is the art of counting the other fellow's blessings instead of your own.”

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”

“Please bear in mind that my observations and thoughts are the outcome of my own unaided impulse and curiosity alone; for, besides myself, in our town there be no philosophers who practice this art, so pray, take not amiss my poor pen and the liberty I here take in setting down my random notions.”

“When I have a camera in my hand, I know no fear.”

“The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.”

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”

“What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which is only related to objects, and not to individuals, or to life.”

“My attitude towards drawing is not necessarily about drawing. It's about making the best kind of image I can make, it's about talking as clearly as I can.”

“I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.”

“The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.”

“I'm free. I just do what I want, say what I want, say how I feel, and I don't try to hurt nobody. I just try to make sure that I don't compromise my art in any kind of way, and I think people respect that.”

“In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it.”

“To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.”

“The most momentous thing in human life is the art of winning the soul to good or evil.”

“My activism always existed. My art gave me the platform to do something about the activism.”

“Abstract art: a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.”

“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”

“Art is made to disturb, science reassures.”

“I didn't want to be the kind of man that my father was. So I've tried, my entire life, to be the complete and utter opposite of that. And it has served not only the art well, but I think the audience well.”

“Trying to force creativity is never good.”

“Art is not supposed to change the world, to change practical things, but to change perceptions. Art can change the way we see the world. Art can create an analogy.”

“Art is the path to being spiritual.”

“Besides black art, there is only automation and mechanization.”

“The best artists know what to leave out.”

“An artist never works under ideal conditions. If they existed, his work wouldn't exist, for the artist doesn't live in a vacuum. Some sort of pressure must exist. The artist exists because the world is not perfect. Art would be useless if the world were perfect, as man wouldn't look for harmony but would simply live in it.”

“Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see.”

“I think Berlin is always inspiring. I love being in Berlin. It feels like such a cool city, with so much culture and art and independence everywhere.”

“I am not strong on perfection.”

“Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.”

“I don't believe that artists really are interested in money. That's not the motivation for art.”

“Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul. Strictly speaking, therefore, all that is separate from us, all which Philosophy distinguishes as the 'Not Me,' that is, both nature and art, all other men and my own body, must be ranked under this name, 'Nature.'”

“The goal of art was the vital expression of self.”

“Just as pure abstract art is not dogmatic, neither is it decorative.”

“Art is, for me, the process of trying to wake up the soul. Because we live in an industrialized, fast-paced world that prefers that the soul remain asleep.”

“Thirty-three-years-old, still creating art. It's rage, it's creativity, it's pain, it's hurt, but it's the opportunity to still have my voice get out there through music.”

“All good art is an indiscretion.”

“Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.”

“Popular art is the dream of society; it does not examine itself.”

“I wanted to start a revolution, using art to build the sort of society I myself envisioned.”

“Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the imitation of life?”

“Don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.”

“In winter, the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity. Summer is more wooing and seductive, more versatile and human, appeals to the affections and the sentiments, and fosters inquiry and the art impulse.”

“'Art or anti-art?' was the question I asked when I returned from Munich in 1912 and decided to abandon pure painting or painting for its own sake. I thought of introducing elements alien to painting as the only way out of a pictorial and chromatic dead end.”

“Paint the essential character of things.”

“Diplomacy, n. is the art of letting somebody else have your way.”

“Visual storytelling utilizes both language and art to pass on the essence of who we are.”

“I wish to lead a life free from care, and I see that I shall be unhappy if I cannot always work at my art.”

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”

“Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks.”