James McNeill Whistler - Whistler Quotes

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John Ruskin: 'The labour of two days is that for which you ask two hundred guineas?'
Whistler: 'No. I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime.'

James McNeill Whistler

'I know of only two painters in the world,' said a newly introduced feminine enthusiast to Whistler, 'yourself and Velasquez.' 'Why,' answered Whistler in dulcet tones, 'why drag in Velasquez?'

James McNeill Whistler

Attorney-General Sir John Holker: The labor of two days, then, is that for which you ask two hundred guineas? Whistler: No; — I ask it for the knowledge of a lifetime.

James McNeill Whistler

Oscar Wilde: How I wish I had said that.
Whistler: You will, Oscar, you will.

James McNeill Whistler

A group from Glasgow sought in 1891 to purchase his portrait of Thomas Carlyle was shocked that Whistler's price was 1000 guineas. A spokesman countered that the portrait was not even life size. Whistler replied, 'But, you know, few men are life size.'

James McNeill Whistler