Art Quotes

Beauty, expression, and the human need to create. Artists and thinkers on why art matters.

21093 quotes

A
"Art is the attempt to render the invisible visible."
Apuleius
P
"Satire is born of the same longing to reveal truth that poetry creates."
Petronius
P
"Art is the expression of the soul seeking to communicate with eternity."
Petronius
P
"Art is the bridge between the material world and the realm of ideas."
Porphyry
P
"The greatest art is invisible—the art of becoming who we are meant to be."
Porphyry
S
"Geography is the canvas upon which the human story is painted."
Strabo
"Art is the imitation of nature; nature is the model of all perfection."
Diogenes Laërtius
"The poet sees what others merely look at."
Diogenes Laërtius
J
"Art imitates nature, but perfects it."
Juvenal
P
"The very life of the dramatist is stolen from the life of mankind."
Plutarch
A
"Art is the mirror of the soul."
Apuleius
A
"Art without passion is mere decoration."
Apuleius
S
"Culture flourishes where peoples exchange ideas freely."
Strabo
S
"The artist and the scholar are brothers in seeking truth."
Strabo
H
"In mathematics, I discovered a language purer than any spoken by mortals."
Hypatia
H
"The greatest mathematics is elegant not because of decoration, but because of economy of principle."
Hypatia
P
"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."
Petronius
"Art is the response to the demand for entertainment."
Diogenes Laërtius
"The artist speaks the language of emotion."
Diogenes Laërtius
J
"Art teaches us things which the laws of nature keep hidden from us."
Juvenal
J
"Art is the conversation between the soul and the world."
Juvenal
P
"Art imitates nature, but true art reveals the divine principles within nature."
Porphyry
P
"Art that serves only pleasure is beneath the dignity of human potential."
Porphyry
A
"Art is the highest form of knowledge."
Apuleius
M
"Art is the expression of the soul."
Martial
M
"Art speaks where words fail."
Martial
A
"Art is the mirror of civilization's advancement."
Ammianus Marcellinus
S
"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
Suetonius
S
"Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth."
Suetonius
P
"Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks."
Plutarch