An artist needn't be a clergyman or a church warden, but he must have a warm heart for his fellow men.
In order to work and to become an artist one needs love. At least, one who wants sentiment in his work must in the first place feel it himself, and live with his heart.
Lord, keep my thoughts green! That is something one should say over and over again.
In the end we shall have had enough of cynicism, skepticism and humbug, and we shall want to live more musically.
How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?
It is looking at things for a long time that ripens you and gives you a deeper meaning.
Normality is a paved road; it's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow.
The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths it has its pearls too.
And then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?
For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.
There is but one Paris and however hard living may be here, and if it became worse and harder even—the French air clears up the brain and does good—a world of good.
Modern reality has got such a hold on us that... when we attempt to reconstruct the ancient days in our thoughts...the minor events of our lives tear us away from our meditations, and... thrust us back into our personal [problems]
Be of good heart.
I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.
Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.
How rich art is, if one can only remember what one has seen, one is never empty of thoughts or truly lonely, never alone.
What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? If you hear a voice within saying ‘You are not a painter’ then by all means paint – and that voice will be silenced.
I take great care of myself by carefully shutting myself away.
I wanted to make people think of a totally different way of living from that which we, educated people, live. I would absolutely not want anyone to find it beautiful or good without a thought.
The more ugly, old, nasty, ill, and poor I become the more I want to get my own back by producing vibrant, well-arranged, radiant colour.
Don't lose heart if it's very difficult at times, everything will come out all right and nobody can in the beginning do as he wishes.
No particular reason for anything. I'm free and that is the main thing.
To understand blue you must first understand yellow and orange.
What am I in the eyes of most people? A good-for-nothing, an eccentric and disagreeable man, somebody who has no position in society and never will have. Very well, even if that were true, I should want to show by my work what there is in the heart of such an eccentric man, of such a nobody.
Illusions may fade, but the sublime remains.
I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.
But what is it to me whether my chance is slight or great? I mean, must I consider this when I love? No—no reckoning; one loves because one loves. Then we keep our heads clear, and do not cloud our minds, nor do we hide our feelings, nor smother the fire and light, but simply say: Thank God, I love.
I feel there is nothing more artistic than loving people.
What I am in the eyes of most people - a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person - somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then - even if that were absolutely true, then I should like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart.
Do you know what frees one from this captivity? It is every deep serious affection. Being friends, being brothers, love, these open the prison by supreme power, by some magic force. Where sympathy is renewed, life is restored.
The great artist is the simplifier.
Where friendship blooms, life is reborn.
The victory one would gain after a whole life of work and effort is better than one that is gained sooner.
I am unable to describe exactly what is the matter with me; now and then there are horrible fits of anxiety, apparently without cause, or otherwise a feeling of emptiness and fatigue in the head.
One must seize the reality of one's fate and that's that.
One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.
I believe more and more that God must not be judged harshly on this earth. It is one of His sketches that has turned out badly.
In the fullness of artistic life there is, and remains, and will always come back at times, that homesick longing for the truly ideal life that can never come true.
Exaggerate the essential, leave the obvious vague.
Only when I fall do I get up again.
Not much meat on her, but what's there is choice.
Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.
If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things.
It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.
Whoever loves much, performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.
I would rather die of passion than of boredom.
One of the most beautiful things to do is to paint darkness, which nevertheless has light in it.
There is nothing more beautiful than nature early in the morning.
If only we try to live righteously, we shall fare well, even though we are bound to encounter genuine sadness and real disappointments and shall probably commit real mistakes and do things that are wrong, but it is certainly better to be ardent in spirit, even though one makes more mistakes, than narrow-minded and overly-cautious.
