Ananda Coomaraswamy Quotes

10 Sourced Quotes

The man incapable of contemplation cannot be an artist, but only a skillful workman.

Ananda Coomaraswamy
The vocation, whether it be that of the farmer or the architect, is a function; the exercise of this function as regards the man himself is the most indispensable means of spiritual development, and as regards his relation to society the measure of his worth.

Ananda Coomaraswamy
We have come to think of art and work as incompatible, or at least independent categories and have for the first time in history created an industry without art.

Ananda Coomaraswamy
Myth embodies the nearest approach to absolute truth that can be stated in words.

Ananda Coomaraswamy
The artist is not a special kind of man, but every man is a special kind of artist.

Ananda Coomaraswamy
No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.

Ananda Coomaraswamy
It is the natural instinct of a child to work from within outwards; "First I think, and then I draw my think." What wasted efforts we make to teach the child to stop thinking, and only to observe!

Ananda Coomaraswamy
All that is best for us comes of itself into our hands-but if we strive to overtake it, it perpetually eludes us.

Ananda Coomaraswamy
Art is nothing tangible. We cannot call a painting 'art' as the words 'artifact' and 'artificial' imply. The thing made is a work of art made by art, but not itself art. The art remains in the artist and is the knowledge by which things are made.

Ananda Coomaraswamy
It is only when the maker of things is a maker of things by vocation, and not merely holding down a job, that the price of things is approximate to their real value....

Ananda Coomaraswamy