Vincent Van Gogh Quotes (102 Quotes)

If one hasn't a horse, one is one's own horse.

Now it so happens in the world that opposed to characters of such persons as he there are characters like mine, for instance. I care as little for the world's opinion as that man cared for what was right. To appear right was enough for him what I th

I wish they would only take me as I am.

The more ugly, older, more cantankerous, more ill and poorer I become, the more I try to make amends by making my colors more vibrant, more balanced and beaming.

If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

I do not intend to spare myself, not to avoid emotions or difficulties. I don't care much whether I live a longer or shorter time. the world concerns me only in so far as I feel a certain debt toward it, because I have walked on this earth for thirty

Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again.

Love is something eternalthe aspects may change, but not the essence. There is the same diflference in a person before and after he is in love as there is in an unlighted lamp and one that is buming. The lamp was there and it is a good lamp, but now it is shedding light, too, and that is its real function.

Perhaps it will seem to you that the sunshine is brighter and that everything has a new charm. At least, I believe this is always the result of a deep love, and it is a beautiful thing. And I believe people who think love prevents one from thinking clearly are wrong for then one thinks very clearly and is more active than before. And love is something eternal--the aspect may change, but not the essence. There is the same difference in a person before and after he is in love as there is in an unlighted lamp and one that is burning. The lamp was there and it was a good lamp, but now it is shedding light too, and that is its real function. And love makes one calmer about many things, and in that way, one is more fit for one's work.

Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul.

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.

The way to know life is to love many things.

The majority of (painters), because they aren't colorists, do not see yellow, orange or sulphur in the South (of France) and they call a painter mad if he sees with eyes other than theirs

It is only too true that a lot of artists are mentally ill- it's a life which, to put it mildly, makes one an outsider. I'm all right when I completely immerse myself in work, but I'll always remain half crazy.

It always strikes me, and it is very peculiar, that when we see the image of indescribable and unutterable desolation - of loneliness, of poverty and misery, the end of all things, or their extreme - then rises in our mind the thought of God.

The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic that to love others.

I have played hell somewhat with the truthfulness of the colors

Love always brings difficulties, that is true, but the good side of it is that it gives energy.

It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent.

When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.

An artist needn't be a clergyman or a churchwarden, but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.

I can't work without a model. I won't say I turn my back on nature ruthlessly in order to turn a study into a picture, arranging the colors, enlarging and simplifying but in the matter of form I am too afraid of departing from the possible and the true.

What a splendid thing watercolor is to express atmosphere and distance, so that the figure is surrounded by air and can breathe in it

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate.

By working hard, old man, I hope to make something good one day. I haven't yet, but I am pursuing it and fighting for it . . . .

A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.

Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.

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.

For me, the work is an absolute necessity. I cannot put it off I don't care for anything else that is to say, the pleasure in something else ceases at once, and I become melancholy when I cannot go on with my work. I feel then as the weaver does wh

But after all I find in my work an echo of what struck me. I see that nature has told me something, has spoken to me, and that I have put it down in shorthand. In my shorthand there may be words that cannot be deciphered. There may be mistakes or gap

If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.

You can't be at the pole and the equator at the same time. You must choose your own line, as I hope to do, and it will probably be color.

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.

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.

I want to do drawings which touch people...In figure or landscape I should wish to express, not sentimental melancholy, but serious sorrow.

The emotions are sometimes so strong that I work without knowing it. The strokes come like speech.

The Mediterranean has the color of mackerel, changeable I mean. You don't always know if it is green or violet, you can't even say it's blue, because the next moment the changing reflection has taken on a tint of rose or gray.

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.

As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

You write in your letter something which I sometimes feel also Sometimes I do not know how I shall pull through.

In my painting of the 'All -Night Cafe' I've tried to express the idea that the cafe is a place where one can ruin oneself, become crazy and criminal. Through the contrast of the delicate pink, blood red and dark red, of mild Louis XV and Veronese gr

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.

I consciously choose the dog's path through life. I shall be poor I shall be a painter...

My opinion is that the best thing would be to work on till art lovers feel drawn toward it of their own accord, instead of having to praise or to explain it.

Thank God, I have my work, but instead of earning money by it, I need money to be able to work that is the difficulty. I think there are no signs in my work that indicate that I shall fail. And I am not a person who works slowly or tamely. Drawing becomes a passion with me, and I throw myself into it more and more. I do not have great plans for the future if for a moment I feel rising within me the desire for a life without care, for prosperity, each time I go fondly back to the trouble and the cares, to a life full of hardship, and think It is better so I learn more from it, and make progress. This is not the road on which one perishes. I only hope the trouble and the cares will not become unbearable, and I have confidence I shall succeed in earning enough to keep myself, not in luxury, but as one who eats his bread in the sweat of his brow.

I am not strictly speaking mad, for my mind is absolutely normal in the intervals, and even more so than before. But during the attacks it is terrible - and then I lose consciousness of everything. But that spurs me on to work and to seriousness, as a miner who is always in danger makes haste in what he does.

Love is eternal - the aspect may change, but not the essence. There is the same difference in a person before and after he is in love as there is in an unlighted lamp and one that is burning. The lamp was there and was a good lamp, but now it is shed

I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.

When we are working at a difficult task and strive after a good thing, we are fighting a righteous battle, the direct reward of which is that we are kept from much evil. As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed. Indeed life is a have to defend and protect ourselves, and with a cheerful and brace spirit we must battle we plan and calculate in order to make progress.