great quotes from writers and thinkers

[Jason Manley]

thought you all would be able to help contribute to a list of great quotes that inspire or enlighten...or are just plain great.


here are a few from my fave author herman hesse...if you havent read his stuff ya should...it is fantastic.
.................................................. ..................................
"Solitude is independence. It had been my wish and with the years I had attained it. It was cold. Oh, cold enough! But it was also still, wonderfully still and vast like the cold stillness of space in which the stars revolve."

Herman Hesse, Steppenwolf ©


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Each man had only one genuine vocation—to find the way to himself...His task was to discover his own destiny—not an arbitrary one—and live it out wholly and resolutely within himself. Everything else was only a would be existence, an attempt at evasion, a flight back to the ideals of the masses, conformity, and fear of one’s own inwardness.


Herman Hesse


this one sums up hesse's writings...

"I can give you nothing
that has not already
its origins within yourself

I can throw open no
picture gallery
but your own

I can help make
your own world visible-
that is all."


-Hermann Hesse-


if you ask me...the last statements sum up what it is that our job as artists really is. tis sad that the daily world gets in the way of such things.



jason

[kaini]

"Solitude is independence. It had been my wish and with the years I had attained it. It was cold. Oh, cold enough! But it was also still, wonderfully still and vast like the cold stillness of space in which the stars revolve."
Oh man he is soo right...

I find this one pretty amusing:
"To be an artist at all is like living in Switzerland during a world war.
- Tom Stoppard

and this one, although it's a bit like a riddle:
"We must change the binary code from 0's and 1's to 3's and 8's" -Mathis

[jester]

I've got many, but the first that comes to my mind now is:

LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?

That's Death in Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett.

More to come!

Jester

[jrr]

Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.- garrison keillor (sp?)

[Patton Art]

"The mirror -- above all-- the mirror is our greatest teacher" --Da Vinci (might be off a little... but that's the jist of it)

"To eat a toad, you must drink its urine first, since it will pee in your mouth" --Keith Patton. he's the greatest scholar ever. such an intelligent and attractive man. (btw... that's me ;) i'm obviously being a little sarcastic here. heh)

But for real.... there was also a quote that I liked about drawing from life. I totally forget what it was and who said it though.

Van Gogh has some good quotes too.

[Travis_Bourbeau]

not a quate but inspirational none the less !


[IF]

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!


--Rudyard Kipling


nice post jason !

[miasmak]

how about this Salvador Dali one

"The only difference between myself and a madman is that I am not mad"

lots more here
http://quotes.prolix.nu/Art/

[ZippZopp]

this is one of my favorites

"It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it"

-Somerset Maugham

[Blazzo]

"In the water I am beautiful."
-Kirk Vonnegut

:trippy:

I am awed by its simplicity.

[Sadclown]

Wow, I cen't believe I never noticed this thread before. Big thumbs up on the Hesse quote Jason. Steppenwolf is my all time favorite book ever. :D :D

Hmmm...Have to think of a good quote now...

[mcotie]

“After a theatrical performance nobody says: this one played the king, what a good actor, this one was a beggar, I don’t appraise him; thus after your death the Gods will say: he played well his part, or he played it badly”.

Epictetus

[Beer Baron]

"It is best to be quiet and thought the fool than to speak and remove any doubt."

Oscar Wylde (sp?)

[ODIN SIX]

Art is the Queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.
- Leonardo da Vinci

[kaini]

"He who has seen a glimpse of eternity can offer no contribution to art" - Odd Nerdrum

I'm trying to read and understand his concept on kitsch right now. It would be very interesting to hear some opinions on this topic.
Hmmm..maybe Mr. Manley ? :) I remember a thread from Sijun where you were very exited about one of his shows.

[hurricane]

"we are gonna live until we die" -Maria




:D

[retro]

one of my absolute favorites:

"640 K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates, 1981

[Sky]

"Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed" - Carl Sandberg

I've always liked that quote.

[Eric UNSL]

I've got a few from various folks throughout time. Let me know if ya heard em before;)

190th Rule of Aquisition "Here all... trust nothing"
unnamed Ferengi.

60th ROA " Keep your lies consistent"

"Hey, sometimes condoms break. Deal with it missy!"
-Max Weinberg, Late Night Conan O'brien

"Embrace the moment for in the end it is all we have. Trouble will come, it always does, but that's tommorow. Give me today and I will be happy." John Sheridan

"You don't drop a piranha in the kiddie pool and stick around to watch the bubbles!" Phil Hartman

"Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road. Healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown road before me leading wherever I choose." Walt Whitman

Oh you wanted art quotes oh well.:fruit:

[blankslatejoe]

some of my favorite quotes:

These are fun!! here's my contirbution :)

on a billboard:

"Don't lose your head
to gain a minute.
You need your head,
your brains are in it."

on old 1960's punch cards:

"do not fold, spindle, or mutilate"

old russian saying:
The eggs do not teach the hen

old indian saying:
when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.

[Oblio]

uh.. this topic is out of control.

I was thinking to quote from "The Alchemist" by Pablo Coelho but while looking trough it.. i just felt like quote and quote and quote... so i'd say:
You'd better read that book - it's small and... makes wonders.
I think that reading that book helped me get here and start drawing.
Maktub!

Oblio

[Grooveholmes]

I like this one...

"A layman knows he has to kick it.; An amateur knows where to kick it.; A professional knows how hard."
:chug:

[Bathgate66]

My favorite are probably Dan Quayle quotes like this one:

"I've tried to figure out where I am. I know I'm not the first because I don't think I have the creativeness that Machiavelli talks about. If I go back and reread it I might figure it out exactly where I put myself. I'm somewhere between two and one."

And this:

" It's the best book I've certainly read. And he goes through it; he starts around the turn of the century up through Vietnam. And it's a very good historical book about history."

And this:

"And it was a very good book of Rasputin's involvement in that, which shows how people that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history."

Ah...and who can forget this?

" I want to be Robin to Bush's Batman. "

Har Har.

[morphgfx]

"The buried talent is the sunken rock on which most lives strike and founder."
-Frederick W. Faber


"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
-Albert Einstein


"The nice thing about having nothing is that you don't have to worry about losing it."
-Unknown


"Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs."
-Lily Tomlin

and my fav one:

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
-Homer Simpson

[egerie]

I'll keep most of the quotes in this thread.. Makes you reflect.

and now something a bit more art related:

"Les tableaux naissent des tableaux." -Malraux
loosely translates to : "Paintings are born from paintings."

I have a ton of those home but this one is close to my heart.

[Avetice]

"In the "end" when no one is with you to judge you, what then shall you see of yourself, is it not more important than the image you portrayed for the masses? Act only for the sake of yourself because in the end it is yourself that shows and not your social skills."

[MindCandyMan]

This is in my signature but I will post it here:






"...art can teach without at all ceasing to be art."

--C.S. Lewis - from a letter to "I.O. Evans"

[gekitsu]

i recommend two classic works of ancient asian philosophy i love to quote over and over again.

sun tsu - the art of war

and

musashi miyamoto - the book of 5 rings

also very nice to read is the hagakure. (the how-to-behave-like-a-samurai-in-5-days)