How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?
I can very well do without God both in my life and in my painting, but I cannot, suffering as I
am, do without something which is greater than I am, which is my life, the power to create.
What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?
The way to know life is to love many things.
I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I
am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.
I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.
I see drawings and pictures in the poorest of huts and the dirtiest of corners.
I wish they would only take me as I am.
A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.
An artist needn't be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart
for his fellow men.
As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the
inmost strength of the heart is developed.
I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.
I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.
Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.
Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I
fall do I get up again.
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
Happiness... it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
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.
If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice
will be silenced.
In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my
great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.
It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be
narrow-minded and all too prudent.
It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the
feeling for the things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for pictures.
Love always brings difficulties, that is true, but the good side of it is that it gives energy.
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 done well.
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.
One must work and dare if one really wants to live.
Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.
Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul.
Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it. Vincent Van Gogh
Van Gogh was the one that cut off part of his ear. And... went crazy a little. We all have our breakdowns. I don't think it makes him any less brilliant of a person. So, I've been reading a bio on Van Gough. It's helping with that fascination I've developed. The creepy "ears, eyes, nose" thing. Oh my. And, I found out that he cut part of his ear off because he was heartbroken. I'm completely in awe that a man could love anyone so much as to mutilate himself. It's a little off but sort of sentimental. Kind of? I'm an odd bird though. What do you want? Of course I'm going to think it's a sweet gesture. Please don't cut off your ears and send them to me. Thanks. kisses, m.