20th-century Artist Quotes

I've realized over the years that, with rare exceptions, most writer's block isn't writer's block at all: It's necessary time that allows the unconscious mind to do its deep work. The great Ah-Ha! moments don't usually come at the keyboard. They come when I'm lying on the floor, staring into space (or banging my head against the wall in frustration). All of a sudden the Unconscious Camera turns on, a movie starts playing in my head-and there it is: The Big Moment. Or the Whole Damn Story. And, in many ways, I had nothing whatsoever to do with it.

J. M. DeMatteis

Coleridge received the Person from Porlock
And ever after called him a curse,
Then why did he hurry to let him in?
He could have hid in the house.

My captain once said that you meet people in your life who you believe will be your companions on the road, only to discover that they fall by the wayside. Others who you meet without design climb mountains with you,

God knows, there's enough to worry about without worrying about worrying about things.

Originality houses many rooms, and the views from the windows are all different.

Can you know excellence if you've never seen it? Can you know good if you have seen only bad?

E. L. Konigsburg

I'm telling you, the gorgeous of the world can actually look pretty intimidating when they scowl. Imagine a snow-white swan with a scary tattoo holding a chain saw. There's just no way to really prepare for that.

If you don't know where you're going, stop racing to get there. — from Just Desert by M. T. Anderson

Chris Van Allsburg

I don't see what people get from hating other people unless it's a special thing I just ain't hip to.

Alexis De Veaux

Didn't it make sense that after something horrible happens, something better should follow?

Only one who has known how troubled life can be, has a real appreciation of it when it is good

Ludwig Bemelmans

Drawing is giving yourself up to an exercise with no immediate application. It is a form of communion with your subject, be it in front of you or in your head. Expertise and skill go hand in hand with your desire to express feelings, to tell stories, to create and share worlds. It's personal.

John Howe (illustrator)

Part of my passion for all things Christmas is seeing my holiday stuff again every December. I suppose I do have more than most folks, so the reunion each winter keeps me in the holiday spirit for a full year. And there are always a few pieces out in my house whatever the month.

Mary Engelbreit

Even enlightened despots don't make very good teachers.

The Little House was very happy as she sat on the hill and watched the countryside around her. She watched the sun rise in the morning and she watched the sun set in the evening. Day followed day, each one a little different from the one before... but the Little House stayed just the same.

Virginia Lee Burton

Never plan a picnic' Father said. 'Plan a dinner, yes, or a house, or a budget, or an appointment with the dentist, but never, never plan a picnic.

Elizabeth Enright

Frog said, 'I wrote 'Dear Toad, I am glad that you are my best friend. Your best friend, Frog.' 'Oh,' said Toad, 'that makes a very good letter.'Then Frog and Toad went out onto the front porch to wait for the mail. They sat there, feeling happy together.

No one mirrors his age clearer than the artist, for here is the living moment made concrete, the particular made general.

I couldn't do them if I didn't know horses lived behind them.

Charles Keeping

The artist's main business is to train his eye to see, then to probe and then to train his hand to work in sympathy with his eye. I have a habit of looking, and really seeing.

Learning history is easy; learning its lessons seems almost impossibly difficult.

Nicolas Bentley

Life is not simple, and therefore history, which is past life, is not simple.

Writers were a strange sort; I knew that much from the newspapers.

Chris Priestley

In order to take control of our lives and accomplish something of lasting value, sooner or later we need to Believe. We don't need to shift our responsibilities onto the shoulders of some deified Spiritual Superman, or sit around and wait for Fate to come knocking at the door. We simply need to believe in the power that's within us, and use it. When we do that, and stop imitating others and competing against them, things begin to work for us.

Only a bad artist thinks he has a good idea. A good artist does not need anything.