Art Quotes

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

21093 quotes

S
"Art is the highest means of elevating human existence."
Spinoza, Baruch
M
"Art is the expression of the soul's deepest yearnings."
Maimonides
M
"Art elevates the human spirit above mere existence."
Maimonides
H
"Eloquence is dependent on the passion and genius of the speaker."
Hume, David
H
"The best and most refined taste is to be found in those who have most general knowledge."
Hume, David
B
"Proper words in proper places make the true definition of style."
Berkeley, George
B
"The work of art is the expression of the artist's vision of truth."
Berkeley, George
D
"Arts and sciences are born of leisure."
Descartes, René
L
"Art is the imitation of nature in her manner of operation."
Leibniz, Gottfried
A
"Art is the expression of the soul."
Avicenna
M
"Beauty in creation reflects the infinite artistry of the Divine."
Maimonides
M
"Beauty understood intellectually becomes wisdom; wisdom expressed becomes beauty."
Maimonides
L
"Art expresses what words cannot convey."
Leibniz, Gottfried
L
"Art is the soul's conversation with eternity."
Leibniz, Gottfried
H
"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
Hume, David
D
"Art is the effort to render the ineffable ineffable."
Descartes, René
L
"Fashion is something barbarous, for it produces innovation without reason and delight without benefit."
Locke, John
L
"The greatest art is to please and to be pleased."
Locke, John
A
"Art is the soul's attempt to communicate with eternity."
Al-Ghazali
A
"Art is the manifestation of the eternal in the temporal world."
Avicenna
M
"Art is the expression of the inexpressible."
Maimonides
L
"Art is the imitation of nature, but informed by reason and guided by taste."
Leibniz, Gottfried
D
"Art is the means by which we reveal the invisible."
Descartes, René
A
"The craftsman who creates beauty serves the divine."
Al-Ghazali
A
"The physician must have the eye of a scientist, the heart of a poet, and the hand of a craftsman."
Avicenna
A
"Art is the expression of the soul through the hands of the craftsman."
Avicenna
L
"Art is the expression of the soul in visible form."
Locke, John
H
"Elegance of taste, however it might be perceived, is yet but a secondary consideration."
Hume, David
H
"The palate of every man is a standard of taste in eating, drinking, and now in the fine arts."
Hume, David
A
"Art imitates nature, but in a perfect form."
Averroes