True Art/Quotes

"When the flush of a new-born sun fell first on Eden's green and gold, Our father Adam sat under the Tree and scratched with a stick in the mould; And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy to his mighty heart, Till the Devil whispered behind the leaves, "It's pretty, but is it Art?""

- The Conundrum of the Workshops by Rudyard Kipling

"Life is serious but art is fun!"

- "The King of Mice" (attributed) in The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving

"The function of the artist is to provide what life does not."

- Tom Robbins

"It is the business of the artist to select and rearrange his material. How else shall he portray the essence of Life?"

- "W. Shakespeare Marlowe", from "Undiplomatic Immunity" by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson

"Logic claims to know -- it is the bastard son of priestcraft -- but art, thank God, only aspires to share an experience."

- Robert Anton Wilson

"I don't know what I like, but I know art."

- Attributed to Mark Twain

"We know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth."

- Pablo Picasso

"Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? Why does one love the night, flowers, everything around one, without trying to understand them?  But in the case of a painting people have to understand...  People who try to explain pictures are usually barking up the wrong tree."

- Pablo Picasso

"You're trying to create art. They're going out for burgers. You know what I mean?  Picasso understood this."

- Joe Bob Briggs

"The purpose of art is to hold a mirror up to life. Life obviously needs more sleep."

""Art is not a mirror. Art is a hammer.""

- quoted by Poppy Z. Brite in Drawing Blood

"All art is quite useless."

- Oscar Wilde

"Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art."

- Tom Stoppard