art - quotes

Oscar (Fingall O'Flahertie Wills) Wilde, 1854-1900

was an Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet

Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882

was an US essayist and poet

The peril of every fine faculty is the delight of playing with it for pride. Talent is commonly developed at the expense of character, and the greater it grows, the more is the mischief. Talent is mistaken for genius, a dogma or system for truth, ambition for greatest, ingenuity for poetry, sensuality for art.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882

was an US essayist and poet

All men are in some degree impressed by the face of the world; some men even to delight. This love of beauty is taste. Others have the same love in such success that, not content with admiring, they seek to embody it in new forms. The creation of beauty is art.

Oscar (Fingall O'Flahertie Wills) Wilde, 1854-1900

was an Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet

All art is quite useless.

( “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, 1891 )

Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983

was an American social writer and philosopher

The Paleolithic hunters who painted the unsurpassed animal murals on the ceiling of the cave at Altamira had only rudimentary tools. Art is older than production for use, and play older than work. Man was shaped less by what he had to do than by what he did in playful moments. It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities.

Oscar (Fingall O'Flahertie Wills) Wilde, 1854-1900

was an Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet

All art is quite useless.

( “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, Prologue, 1891 )

Pablo (Ruiz) Picasso, 1881-1973

was a Spanish Cubist painter

Art washes away from the soul, the dust of everyday living.

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

was an US (German-born) physicist

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

was an US (German-born) physicist

True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

was an US (German-born) physicist

...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the personal life into the world of objective perception and thought.

Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

was an US (German-born) physicist

After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest sceintists are always artists as well.