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Artists and creatives are always . It’s how we move through the world, searching for the creative sustenance that will feed us and our work. We’ve gathered a feast of inspiration for you in the following list of quotes about art and creativity. From famous art quotes uttered and penned by some of the most renowned artists in history, to recent quotes about creativity, process, and practice from contemporary artists, writers, and musicians working today, you’re sure to find something inspiring here.

Why Read Quotes About Art?

Reading quotes about art is not only inspiring—it’s motivational! When creating feels difficult, drawing wisdom and insight from others can provide the boost needed to keep going. Whether you put your favorite quotes on sticky notes next to your computer or maintain a short list in your phone, keep them within arm’s reach—you’ll thank yourself on hard days.

Many of these quotes about art would also be great to share with students and young artists just getting started in their creative lives. Also, if you’re a teacher, mentor, or parent of a burgeoning creative mind, consider passing along some of these quotes, or displaying them where roaming eyes might land. Remember: the creative soul is always hungry!

We hope you find some useful ideas, advice, and motivation amongst this feast of famous art quotes. Start from the top or jump to your preferred section:

• Quotes about Creativity
• Quotes about Finding Inspiration 
• Quotes about the Creative Routine
• Quotes about Rejection and Perseverance
• Quotes about Visual Art
• Quotes about Writing
• Quotes about Music
• Quotes about Art & Community
• Quotes about the Role of the Artist

Quotes about Art & Creativity

Where does that spark of creativity come from? How do we harness it, and to what ends? See what some of the greatest creative minds have to say on the subject in this first section of quotes about art:

1.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou (American poet and memoirist, 1928-2014)

2.

“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” – Francis Bacon (British painter, 1909-1992)

3.

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” – Franz Kafka (Austrian-Czech writer, 1883-1924)

4.

“Art is not entertainment. At its very best, it’s a revolution.” – Salman Rushdie (Indian-British novelist, 1947-)

5.

“We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.” – Pablo Picasso (Spanish painter, 1881-1973)

6.

“The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.” – Piet Mondrian (Dutch painter, 1872-1944)

7.

“Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend.” – Anne Lamott (American novelist, 1954-)

8.

“Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you’re passionate about something then you’re more willing to take risks.” – Yo-Yo Ma (French-American cellist, 1955-)

9.

“Creativity is magic, don’t examine it too closely.” – Edward Albee (American playwright, 1928-2016)

10.

“Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods.” – Iris Murdoch (British novelist, 1919-1999)

11.

“Art is not a thing; it is a way.” – Elbert Hubbard (American writer, 1856-1915)

12.

“Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.” – Madeleine L’Engle (American writer, 1918-2007)

13.

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” –Brene Brown (American writer, 1965-)

14.

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams (American author and cartoonist, 1957-)

15.

“Art is a kind of innate drive that seizes a human being and makes him its instrument.” – Carl Jung (Swedish psychologist and philosopher, 1875-1961)

16.

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” – Herman Melville (American novelist, 1819-1891)

17.

“Art is technique: a means by which to materialize the invisible realm of the mind.” – Hiroshi Sugimoto (Japanese photographer, 1948-)

18.

“What is possible in art becomes thinkable in life.” – Brian Eno (British musician and artist, 1948-)

19.

“The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (German philosopher and cultural critic, 1844-1900)

20.

“Nothing you create is ultimately your own, yet all of it is you. Your imagination, it seems to me, is mostly an accidental dance between collected memory and influence, and is not intrinsic to you, rather it is a construction that awaits spiritual ignition.” – Nick Cave (Australian musician, 1957-)

21.

“Art is the triumph over chaos.” – John Cheever (American writer, 1912-1982)

22.

“A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.” – Rainer Maria Rilke (Austrian poet, 1875-1926)

23.

“I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations — they generally produce their worst work when they do that.” – David Bowie (British singer-songwriter and musician, 1947-2016)

24.

“Serious art is born from serious play.” – Julia Cameron (American writer, 1948-)

25.

“But unless we are creators we are not fully alive. What do I mean by creators? Not only artists, whose acts of creation are the obvious ones of working with paint of clay or words. Creativity is a way of living life, no matter our vocation or how we earn our living.” – Madeleine L’Engle (American writer, 1918-2007)

Quotes about Art & Finding Inspiration

Wondering where to look for inspiration in your creative practice? This section of quotes about art focus specifically on that elusive topic of the muse, and how (or whether) to wait for inspiration to strike:

1.

“Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.” — Flannery O’Connor (American writer, 1925-1964)

2.

“There will always be a certain group of people whom inspiration visits. … Difficulties and setbacks never quell their curiosity. A swarm of new questions emerges from every problem that they solve. Whatever inspiration is, it’s born from a continuous ‘I don’t know.’” – Wisława Szymborska (Polish poet and translator, 1923-2012)

3.

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent.” –Jim Jarmusch (American director and screenwriter, 1953-)

4.

“It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.” – Jean-Luc Godard (French-Swiss director and screenwriter, 1930-2022)

5.

“The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.” – Paul Strand (American photographer, 1890-1976)

6.

“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.” – Pablo Picasso (Spanish painter, 1881-1973)

7.

“In the end, as a writer, I’m more interested in what people tell themselves happened rather than what actually happened.” – Kazuo Ishiguro (Japanese-British novelist and screenwriter, 1954-)

8.

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” – Marc Chagall (Russian-French painter, 1887-1985)

9.

“A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar.” – Stephen King (American novelist, 1947-)

10.

“Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.” – Pablo Picasso (Spanish painter, 1881-1973)

11.

“Forget about inspiration, because it’s more likely to be a reason not to write, as in, “I can’t write today because I’m not inspired.”… the most valuable characteristic any would-be writer can possibly have is persistence. Just keep at it, keep learning your craft and keep trying.” – Octavia Butler (American novelist, 1947-2006)

12.

“The artist’s memory is a dangerous, necessary thing. … Artists remember the world as it is, first, because you have to know what it is you’re reinventing; that’s a rule, perhaps the only one: being cognizant of your source material.” – Hilton Als (American writer and theater critic, 1960-)

13.

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” – Oscar Wilde (Irish writer, 1854-1900)

14.

“Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.” – William Faulkner (American writer, 1897-1962)

15.

“You make substitutions to keep yourself inventing.” – Louise Glück (American poet, 1943-2023)

16.

“In nature, some seeds lie dormant in anticipation of the season most conducive to their growth. This is true of art as well. There are ideas whose time has not yet come. Or perhaps their time has come, but you are not yet ready to engage with them. Other times, developing a different seed may shed light on a dormant one.” – Rick Rubin (American record producer, 1963-)

17.

“We never sit anything out. We are cups, quietly and constantly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” – Ray Bradbury (American author and screenwriter, 1920-2012)

18.

“The poems come incidentally or they do not come at all. If the Muse leaves me alone, I leave her alone. To be quiet, even wordless, in a good place is a better gift than poetry.” – Wendell Berry (American poet and novelist, 1934-)

Quotes about Art & Creative Routine

One of the most difficult challenges for any creative person is finding a sustainable routine for your artistic practice. These quotes about art tackle the challenges and benefits of establishing a set creative routine (or not!):

1.

“Like your bedroom, your writing room should be private, a place where you go to dream. Your schedule — in at about the same time every day, out when your thousand words are on paper or disk — exists in order to habituate yourself, to make yourself ready to dream just as you make yourself ready to sleep by going to bed at roughly the same time each night and following the same ritual as you go.” – Stephen King (American novelist, 1947-)

2.

“Take risks… Force myself to think for two pages per day… Don’t scatter myself… Don’t hurry, but work two hours per day, genius or not, even if I believe that it will come to nothing, and confide in someone who will criticize me and take me seriously.” – Simone de Beauvoir (French writer and philosopher, 1908-1986)

3.

“A solid routine fosters a well-worn groove for one’s mental energies and helps stave off the tyranny of moods.” – Mason Currey (American writer)

4.

“I cannot tell the truth about anything unless I confess being a student, growing and learning something new every day. The more I learn, the clearer my view of the world becomes.” – Sonia Sanchez (American poet, 1934-)

5.

“Sometimes, I work with a medium I don’t like out of curiosity. It is an experiment to challenge my pre-existing concepts and tastes… I don’t think artists should only work with what is handiest and most familiar, because the unfamiliar provides a challenge, and it creates another language.” – Ai Weiwei (Chinese artist, 1957-)

6.

“One can be very fertile without having to work too much. Three hours in the morning. Three hours in the evening. This is my only rule.” – Jean-Paul Sartre (French writer and philosopher, 1905-1980)

7.

“Creativity sometimes needs the protection of darkness, of being ignored. That is very obvious in the natural tendency many artists and writers have not to show their paintings or writings before they are finished.” – Marie-Louise von Franz (Swiss psychologist and literary scholar, 1915-1998)

8.

“I work much better in chaos… chaos for me breeds images.” – Francis Bacon (British painter, 1909-1992)

9.

“The space can be humble … and it really needs only one thing: A door you are willing to shut. The closed door is your way of telling the world that you mean business…” – Stephen King (American novelist, 1947-)

10.

“You write by sitting down and writing. There’s no particular time or place–you suit yourself, your nature. How one works, assuming he’s disciplined, doesn’t matter. If he or she is not disciplined, no sympathetic magic will help. The trick is to make time–not steal it–and produce the fiction.”  Bernard Malamud (American writer, 1914-1986)

11.

“Turn up for work. Discipline allows creative freedom. No discipline equals no freedom.” – Jeanette Winterson (British novelist, 1959-)

12.

“Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phone off the hook. Work regular hours.” – Jane Kenyon (American poet and translator, 1947-1995)

13.

“Perhaps the primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid: the state of being alone.” – James Baldwin (American writer, 1924-1987)

Quotes about Rejection & Perseverance

Every artist will face rejection or failure at some point in their creative journey. These quotes about art and the artist’s life speak back to those inner (and outer!) critics, and will encourage you to keep persevering:

1.

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.” – Georgia O’Keeffe (American painter, 1887-1986)

2.

“Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.” – Rainer Maria Rilke (Austrian poet, 1875-1926)

3.

“If I am worth anything later, I am worth something now. For wheat is wheat, even if people think it is a grass in the beginning.” – Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch painter, 1853-1890)

4.

“I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.” – Georgia O’Keeffe (American painter, 1887-1986)

5.

“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.”  – Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch painter, 1853-1890)

6.

“The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize.” – Robert Hughes (Australian art critic and writer, 1938-2012)

7.

“Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn’t force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come. … I learn it every day of my life, learn it with pain I am grateful for: patience is everything!” – Rainer Maria Rilke (Austrian poet, 1875-1926)

8.

“If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” – Joseph Campbell (American writer, 1904-1987)

9.

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” – Kurt Vonnegut (American novelist, 1922-2007)

10.

“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” – Truman Capote (American novelist and screenwriter, 1924-1984)

11.

“You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don’t have that kind of feeling for what it is you’re doing, you’ll stop at the first giant hurdle.” – George Lucas (American filmmaker, 1944-)

12.

“Fear is good quality control, keeps you from coasting, and makes you rigorous about editing.” – Colson Whitehead (American novelist, 1969-)

13.

“Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but most of all, endurance.” – James Baldwin (American writer, 1924-1987)

14.

“You have to work out what it is you can’t do, obscure it, and focus on what works.” – Zadie Smith (British novelist, 1975-)

15.

“I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge — even wisdom. Like art.” – Toni Morrison (American novelist, 1931-2019)

16.

“A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” – James Joyce (Irish writer, 1882-1941)

17.

“You have to fail in order to move forward. You can’t smart your way out of it. You can be smart as hell and it just doesn’t matter. You’re going to fail.” – Ta-Nehisi Coates (American author and journalist, 1975-)

18.

“You have to remain flexible, and you must be your own critic at all times.” – Hans Zimmer (German film composer, 1957-)

19.

“Our tears prepare the ground for our future growth. Without this creative moistening, we may remain barren. We must allow the bolt of pain to strike us. Remember, this is useful pain; lightning illuminates.” – Julia Cameron (American writer, 1948-)

Quotes about Art

Are you a visual artist? These famous art quotes will help you feel inspired and motivated no matter where you are in your artistic practice:

1.

“If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.” – Edward Hopper (American painter, 1882-1967)

2.

“Art is a line around your thoughts.” – Gustav Klimt (Austrian painter, 1862-1918)

3.

“I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.” – Pablo Picasso (Spanish painter, 1881-1973)

4.

“If I already have a vision, my work is almost done. The rest is a technical problem.” – Hiroshi Sugimoto (Japanese photographer, 1948-)

5.

“Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere.” – G.K. Chesterton (British author and art critic, 1874-1936)

6.

“Your medium has to be alive to you, no matter what you do.” – Peter Schjedahl (American writer and art critic, 1942-2022)

7.

“Great art picks up where nature ends.” – Marc Chagall (Russian-French painter, 1887-1985)

8.

“Painting is the grandchild of nature. It is related to God.” – Rembrandt (Dutch painter, 1606-1669)

9.

“Art requires philosophy, just as philosophy requires art. Otherwise, what would become of beauty?” – Paul Gauguin (French painter and sculptor, 1848-1903)

10.

“Photography is the art of anticipation, not working with memories, but showing their formation.” – Peter Schjedahl (American writer and art critic, 1942-2022)

11.

“Every good painter paints what he is.” – Jackson Pollock (American painter, 1912-1956)

12.

“Nothing is less real than realism. Details are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis, that we get at the real meaning of things.” – Georgia O’Keeffe (American painter, 1887-1986)

13.

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch painter, 1853-1890)

14.

“It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism. There is no such thing as good painting about nothing.” – Mark Rothko (Latvian-American painter, 1903-1970)

15.

“Art is limitation; the essence of every picture is the frame.” – G.K. Chesterton (British author and art critic, 1874-1936)

16.

“Follow the masters! But why should one follow them? The only reason they are masters is that they didn’t follow anybody!” – Paul Gauguin (French painter and sculptor, 1848-1903)

17.

“A painting is never finished—it simply stops in interesting places.” – Paul Gardner (American art critic, 1933-2000)

Quotes about Writing

If your medium of choice is the written word, read on! These words of wisdom from generations of famous writers will remind you why and how we follow that innately human urge to tell stories:

1.

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” – Toni Morrison (American novelist, 1931-2019)

2.

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” – Maya Angelou (American poet and memoirist, 1928-2014)

3.

“Good writers define reality; bad ones merely restate it. A good writer turns fact into truth; a bad writer will, more often than not, accomplish the opposite.” – Edward Albee (American playwright, 1928-2016)

4.

“People forget facts, but they remember stories.” – Joseph Campbell (American writer, 1904-1987)

5.

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” – Sylvia Plath (American poet and writer, 1932-1963)

6.

“It all happens in revision.” – George Saunders (American writer, 1958-)

7.

“You grow ravenous. You run fevers. You know exhilarations. You can’t sleep at night, because your beast-creature ideas want out and turn you in your bed. It is a grand way to live.” – Ray Bradbury (American author and screenwriter, 1920-2012)

8.

“Try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.” – Zadie Smith (British novelist, 1975-)

9.

“Because nothing is quite as easy as using words like somebody else. We all of us do exactly this nearly all of the time — and whenever we do it, we’re not poets.” – e.e. cummings (American poet, 1894-1962)

10.

“The idea must drive the words. When the words drive the idea, it’s all floss and gloss, elaboration, air bubbles, dross, pomp, frump, strumpeting.” – Mary Oliver (American poet, 1935-2019)

11.

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” – Madeleine L’Engle (American writer, 1918-2007)

12.

“My other thing foremost was I would not think about appearances; I would just write. I would not think about whether I had a good idea; I would just write it. I would not think about whether I was capable; I would just put my pen on the page.” – Louise Erdrich (Chippewa-American novelist, 1954-)

13.

“Always be a poet, even in prose.” – Charles Baudelaire (French poet and essayist, 1821-1867)

14.

“Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do — the actual act of writing — turns out to be the best part. It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.” –Anne Lamott (American novelist, 1954-)

15.

“Poetry has no investment in anything besides openness. It’s not arguing a point. It’s creating an environment.” – Claudia Rankine (American poet, 1963-)

16.

“Don’t sit down in the middle of the woods. If you’re lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening page.” – Margaret Atwood (Canadian novelist and poet, 1939-)

17.

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” – Elmore Leonard (American novelist, 1925-2013)

18.

“See how long you can stay in that space, where both things are true. You, little mind, actually don’t have to decide. That’s a great place to try to be. And for a fiction writer, that’s the best place to be: you’ve put two apparently opposing truths in the air and you’re just letting them hang there, knowing that the real truth is … that opposition.” – George Saunders (American writer, 1958-)

Quotes about Music

If your artistic drive takes the form of music, check out this section of creativity and art quotes from musicians, composers, and other music-loving creatives:

1.

“There is no doubt that even the greatest musical geniuses have sometimes worked without inspiration. This guest (inspiration) does not always respond to the first invitation. We must always work, and a self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood.” – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian composer, 1840-1893)

2.

“How does a person create a song? A lot of it is being open, I think, to encounter and to, in a way, be in touch with the miraculous.” – Joni Mitchell (Canadian-American singer-songwriter, 1943-)

3.

“What a great song makes us feel is a sense of awe. There is a reason for this. A sense of awe is almost exclusively predicated on our limitations as human beings. It is entirely to do with our audacity as humans to reach beyond our potential.” – Nick Cave (Australian musician, 1957-)

4.

“I’ve spent my life trying to make things simpler. Because I find ultimately that complicated doesn’t reach the heart.” – Hans Zimmer (German film composer, 1957-)

5.

“The goal is not to fit in. If anything, it’s to amplify the differences, what doesn’t fit, the special characteristics unique to how you see the world. Instead of sounding like others, value your own voice. Develop it.” – Rick Rubin (American record producer, 1963-)

6.

“If somebody’s trying to shut you up, sing louder, and if possible, better.” – Salman Rushdie (Indian-British novelist, 1947-)

7.

“If you feel safe in the area that you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth, and when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.” – David Bowie (British singer-songwriter and musician, 1947-2016)

8.

“I wondered whether music might not be a unique example of what might have been—if the invention of language had not intervened—the means of communication between souls.” – Marcel Proust (French novelist and literary critic, 1871-1922)

9.

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.” – Victor Hugo (French writer, 1802-1885)

10.

“Music, uniquely among the arts, is both completely abstract and profoundly emotional. It has no power to represent anything particular or external, but it has a unique power to express inner states or feelings. Music can pierce the heart directly; it needs no mediation.” – Oliver Sacks (British neurologist and writer, 1933-2015)

Quotes about Art & Community

While art-making itself often occurs in solitude, there is an immense value in building and sustaining artistic community as well. Read on for art quotes from famous creatives about the value of friendship, collaboration, feedback, and community:

1.

“There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” – Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch painter, 1853-1890)

2.

“Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friend’s success.” – Oscar Wilde (Irish poet and playwright, 1854-1900)

3.

“And while I don’t expect you to save the world I do think it’s not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.” – Nikki Giovanni (American poet, 1943-2024)

4.

“Who are your friends? Do they believe in you? Or do they stunt your growth with ridicule and disbelief? If the latter, you haven’t friends. Go find some.” – Ray Bradbury (American author and screenwriter, 1920-2012)

5.

“My success wasn’t based on how I could push down everybody that was around me. My success was based on how much I could push everybody up.” – George Lucas (American filmmaker, 1944-)

6.

“You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You’ve been backstage. You’ve seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business.” – Margaret Atwood (Canadian novelist and poet, 1939-)

7.

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” – C.S. Lewis (British writer, 1898-1963)

8.

“Remember that the anchor of your being lies in human affection and human responsibility, but remember also to keep swimming up into the air of envisaged possibilities.” – Seamus Heaney (Irish poet and playwright, 1939-2013)

9.

“Fortunately art is a community effort—a small but select community living in a spiritualized world endeavoring to interpret the wars and the solitudes of the flesh.” – Allen Ginsberg (American poet, 1926-1997)

Quotes about the Role of the Artist

Last but certainly not least, this section of quotes about art all speak to why we do what we do. What role does art play in our lives? What is the responsibility of the artist to the wider world? Here are just a few possible answers:

1.

“Art has to be involved with moral, philosophical, and intellectual conversations. If you call yourself an artist, this is your responsibility.” – Ai Weiwei (Chinese artist, 1957-)

2.

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.” – Bertolt Brecht (German playwright, 1898-1956)

3.

“There has to be something in you, something that hungers for clarity. And you will need that hunger, because if you follow that path, soon enough you will find yourself confronting not just their myths, not just their stories, but your own.” – Ta-Nehisi Coates (American author and journalist, 1975-)

4.

“Stories are the secret reservoir of values: change the stories individuals or nations live by and tell themselves, and you change the individuals and nations.” – Ben Okri (Nigerian-British poet and novelist, 1959-)

5.

“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.” – Maya Angelou (American poet and memoirist, 1928-2014)

6.

“All poets, all writers are political. They either maintain the status quo, or they say, ‘Something’s wrong, let’s change it for the better.’” – Sonia Sanchez (American poet, 1934-)

7.

“The job of the artist is to make a gesture and really show people what their potential is. It’s not about the object, and it’s not about the image; it’s about the viewer. That’s where the art happens.” – Jeff Koons (American artist, 1955-)

8.

“Great art, or, let’s just say, more modestly, original art is never created in the safe middle ground, but always at the edge. Originality is dangerous. It challenges, questions, overturns assumptions, unsettles moral codes, disrespects sacred cows or other such entities.” – Salman Rushdie (Indian-British novelist, 1947-)

9.

“Art is either revolution or plagiarism.” – Paul Gauguin (French painter and sculptor, 1848-1903)

10.

“But the conquest of the physical world is not man’s only duty. He is also enjoined to conquer the great wilderness of himself. The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.” – James Baldwin (American writer, 1924-1987)

11.

“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” – Albert Camus (French author and philosopher, 1913-1960)

12.

“Art is humanity’s most essential, most universal language. It is not a frill, but a necessary part of communication. The quality of civilization can be measured through its music, dance, drama, architecture, visual art and literature.” – Ernest L Boyer (American educator, 1928-1995)

13.

“The function of the artist is the mythologization of the culture and the world.” – Joseph Campbell (American writer, 1904-1987)

14.

“I can’t tell you what art does and how it does it, but I know that often art has judged the judges, pleaded revenge to the innocent and shown to the future what the past suffered, so that it has never been forgotten.” – John Berger (British writer and art critic, 1926-2017)

15.

“Good writing is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are.” – Anne Lamott (American novelist, 1954-)

16.

“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.” – James McNeill Whistler (American painter, 1834-1903)

17.

“Unless you are terribly, terribly careful, you run the danger—without even knowing it is happening to you—of slipping into the fatal error of reflecting the public taste instead of creating it. Your responsibility is to the public consciousness, not to the public view of itself.” – Edward Albee (American playwright, 1928-2016)

18.

“One of the functions of art is to give people the words to know their own experience. There are always areas of vast silence in any culture, and part of an artist’s job is to go into those areas and come back from the silence with something to say.” – Ursula K LeGuin (American writer and poet, 1929-2018)

19.

“An artist’s concern is to capture beauty wherever he finds it.” – Kazuo Ishiguro (Japanese-British novelist and screenwriter, 1954-)

20.

“The trouble is that once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There’s no innocence. Either way, you’re accountable.” – Arundhati Roy (Indian author, 1961-)

21.

“If we have any role at all, I think it’s the role of optimism, not blind or stupid optimism, but the kind which is meaningful, one that is rather close to that notion of the world which is not perfect, but which can be improved. In other words, we don’t just sit and hope that things will work out; we have a role to play to make that come about. That seems to me to be the reason for the existence of the writer.” – Chinua Achebe (Nigerian novelist and poet, 1930-2013)

Final Thoughts – Famous Quotes about Art and Creativity

We hope you gleaned some inspiration and motivation from these quotes about art and creativity! Looking for more inspiration for your creative practice, your students, or your classroom? Check out these inspiring resources as well:

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