Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.Collection: Faith
Love always brings difficulties, that is true, but the good side of it is that it gives energy.Collection: Love
A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.Collection: Good
If boyhood and youth are but vanity, must it not be our ambition to become men?Collection: Men
I can very well do without God both in my life and in my painting, but I cannot, suffering as I am, do without something which is greater than I am, which is my life, the power to create.Collection: Power
I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed.Collection: Faith
Those Dutchmen had hardly any imagination or fantasy, but their good taste and their scientific knowledge of composition were enormous.Collection: Knowledge
I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.Collection: Work
The way to know life is to love many things.Collection: Love
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.Collection: Great
When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.Collection: Religion
The best way to know God is to love many things.Collection: Love
Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again.Collection: Knowledge
Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.Collection: Love
What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?Collection: Life
An artist needn't be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.Collection: Men
One must work and dare if one really wants to live.Collection: Work
As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.Collection: Life
Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul.Collection: Life
I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.Collection: Experience
There may be a great fire in our hearts, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke.Collection: Great
Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.Collection: Poetry
For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.Collection: Nature
But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.Collection: God
If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.Collection: Art
If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things.Collection: Time
The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.Collection: Love
Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.Collection: Imagination
In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.Collection: Great
It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for pictures.Collection: Nature
I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.Collection: Love
I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.Collection: Dreams
I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.Collection: Positive
The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.
One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.
It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent.
I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.Collection: Life
Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.Collection: Flower
Art is to console those who are broken by life.Collection: Art
If one truly loves nature one finds beauty everywhere.Collection: Love
Doing little things well is a step toward doing big things better.Collection: Littles
God sends us pieces of art so that we may see ourselves in themCollection: Art
Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you're put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.Collection: Inspirational
Close friends are truly life's treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone.Collection: Friendship