Art Quotes

"Art imitates life; life imitates art."

"Art is the most honest reflection of society."

"Through art, we transcend the limitations of our existence."

"To be a writer, one must have something to say that burns inside you until it must come out."

"I paint to communicate what my voice cannot say."

"The short story is the most difficult of all literary forms because it must accomplish in miniature what the novel does at length."

"Art is the language we use when ordinary words fail us."

"The role of the artist is to bear witness to the human condition in all its complexity."

"The most satisfying thing I ever did was to write something small and true."

"Art is what remains when all the temporary things have fallen away."

"Art must be parochial in the beginning to be cosmopolitan in the end."

"A poem is just a love letter written to the world."

"Criticism is easy—creation is difficult."

"I'd rather be a bad poet than a good businessman."

"Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it."

"Too much sensibility, too much awareness of all that is lovely in nature and art, creates a state of mind that is unbearable to anyone Romantic."

"The craft of the novel is knowing what to put in and what to leave out."

"Art is the expression of the human soul."

"Art begins where explanation ends."

"The artist's task is to save the soul of mankind."

"Art is the expression of the soul."

"Art is the effort human beings make to impose order on chaos."

"Art challenges us to see the world differently."

"Art is the expression of the soul."

"All the world's a stage, and all the people in it merely players – but the script is written by chaos."

"All art is quite useless – and that is its greatest worth."

"Art speaks what words cannot; it reaches into the soul directly."

"Irony is the soul of contemporary culture."

"The real story isn't the story you think you're telling."

"You can't separate the artwork from the artist."