I would rather die of passion than of boredom.
-Vincent van Gogh
INSPIRING QUOTES
I’ve always loved quotes. I wouldn’t necessarily say the motivational/happy type, but the kind that gives you a glimpse into someone else’s world. A quote that lets you know what was happening or what someone was thinking at a particular moment in their life. Sometimes the encouragement that you need comes from something that’s not necessarily that ray of sunshine, but from something a bit more dark or dubious. Either way, here’s a list of some of my favorites.
Art spiritual Wisdom everything else
Art
“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.”
“I was so upset yesterday that I made the blunder of throwing myself in the water. Fortunately, there were no bad results.”
“An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success.”
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”
“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.”
“I regard it as a waste of time to think only of selling: one forgets one’s art and exaggerates one’s value.”
“There is always a heavy demand for fresh mediocrity. In every generation the least cultivated taste has the largest appetite.”
“Often the most unique, compelling work comes not from a concept or an idea but from a deep, wordless place inside the artist.”
“I can’t change the fact that my paintings don’t sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture.”
“No one but myself knows the anxiety I go through and the trouble I give myself to finish paintings which do not satisfy me and seem to please so very few others.”
“I am very depressed and deeply disgusted with painting. It is really a continual torture.”
“I frequently lock myself in my studio. I do not often see the people I love, and in the end I shall suffer for it... painting is one’s private life.”
Spiritual
“The most exquisite paradox… as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can’t have it. The minute you don’t want power, you’ll have more than you ever dreamed possible.”
“I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.”
“You must polish the mirror free of anger to see God.”
“Only when I know who I am will I know what is possible. ”
“The mind knows only questions and the heart knows only answers.”
“He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know. ”
“The secret of life is to die before you die — and find that there is no death.”
“Sometimes to live again, we have to let ourselves die completely. We have to let ourselves become completely, utterly, new.”
“The reason you want to be better is the reason why you aren’t. ”
Wisdom
“Life can’t just be about solving problems, otherwise what’s the point?”
“Today, I’m not what I think I am. I’m not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am.”
“Never make fun of someone who mispronounces a word. It means they learned it by reading.”
“Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right. ”
“If you are more fortunate than others, build a longer table not a taller fence.”
Everything Else
“Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. ”
“The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.”
“Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you.”