Quotes on art and creativity | 60 amazing quotes for you!

And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. 

– John Keating, Dead Poets Society

It only seems apt to begin this article of quotes on art and creativity with these unforgettable lines from the movie Dead Poets Society, uttered on screen by a very passionate English teacher played by the delightful Robin Williams. They are memorable because they simply put into words what we already feel deep within ourselves.

It is well known that creative people inspire creativity in others. Therefore, here is a list of quotes by famous personalities, that another artist or a creative person needs to come across at least once in their lifetime.

Let’s begin with the first 15! 

1. “Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso
2. “If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced” – Vincent Van Gogh
3. “Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse
4. “Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” – Andy Warhol
5. “Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.” – Andre Gide
6. “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” – Bob Ross
7. “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” – Leonardo da Vinci
8. “Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
9. “There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” – Vincent Van Gogh
10. “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Pablo Picasso
11. “Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.” – Claude Monet
12. “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
13. “I hold that the perfection of form and beauty is contained in the sum of all men.” – Albrecht Dürer
14. “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas
15. “In art, what we want is the certainty that one spark of original genius shall not be extinguished.” – Mary Cassatt

Here are the next 15 best quotes on art and creativity!

1. “A work of art which isn’t based on feeling isn’t art at all.” – Paul Cézanne
2. “Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.” – Ai Weiwei
3. “Creativity is contagious, pass it on.” – Albert Einstein
4. “Everybody born comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory. We come from the Creator with creativity. I think that each one of us is born with creativity.” – Maya Angelou
5. “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dali
6. “You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London
7. “Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will.” – George Bernard Shaw
8. “Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” – Charles Mingus
9. “Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.” – Voltaire
10. “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.” – Ray Bradbury
11. “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” – Steve Jobs
12. “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” – Cecil B. DeMille
13. “You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not’?” – George Bernard Shaw
14. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” -Maya Angelou
15. “Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” – Bill Moyers

Some more quotes on art and creativity 

1. “Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you’re passionate about something, then you’re more willing to take risks.” – Yo-Yo Ma
2. “Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm.” – Earl Nightingale
3. “Creative work is a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.” – Steven Pressfield
4. “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams
5. “Art is the stored honey of the human soul.” – Theodore Dreiser
6. “Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.” – Edgar Degas
7. “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton
8. “I think of art as the highest level of creativity. To me, it is one of the greatest sources of enjoyment.” – David Rockefeller
9. “To practice any art, no matter how well or how badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. So do it.” – Kurt Vonnegut
10. “The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live only as you can.” – Neil Gaiman
11. “Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.” – Donatella Versace
12. “Art is meant to disturb, science reassures.” – Georges Braque 1882-1963
13. “If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” – Edward Hopper
14. “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” – Andy Warhol
15. “The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.” – Piet Mondrian

15 more quotes on art and creativity for you! 

1. “Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.” – Salvador Dali
2. “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” – Francis Bacon
3. “To create one’s own world takes courage.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
4. “The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” – Auguste Rodin
5. “It is important to express oneself&provided the feelings are real and are taken from your own experience.” – Berthe Morisot
6. “To be an artist is to believe in life.” – Henry Moore
7. “Every good painter paints what he is.” – Jackson Pollock
8. “In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
9. “Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
10. “What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.” – Eugene Delacroix
11. “Don’t be an art critic, but paint, there lies salvation.” – Paul Cézanne
12. “If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” – Marc Chagall
13. “A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.” – Michelangelo
14. “It is wise to learn; it is God-like to create.” – John Saxe
15. “Great art picks up where nature ends.” – Marc Chagall

What’s more! 

While those engaged in creative pursuits will certainly find a bit of themselves reflected in the quotes above, these quotes will certainly resonate with everyone, and may even inspire some of us to look at life a bit differently.

We hope you enjoyed reading these famous quotes on art and creativity! You can share your thoughts by reaching out to us or dropping a comment below! 

Liked this blog? Read next: Career quotes | 10 Inspirational ones to help you gain perspective

FAQs

Q1. I am not a very creative person, how can I become an artist?

Ans- While some of us may be born with special talents, most creative people you see around have simply learned from life. Just look all around you for inspiration; the beauty of the sky during sunset, the graceful flight of birds, the undulating misty mountains. Find a way to express how you feel about it, be it writing, painting, acting, or anything, and simply start doing it. Reach out to an artist you admire for guidance if you need to.  

Q2. How early should someone start to become an artist?

Ans- You can start anytime and improve yourself with practice. Just ensure that you do not try something that may be physically beyond you without proper guidance. 

Q3. Can I practice creativity without becoming an artist?

Ans- While artists are the greatest manifestations of creativity, they are certainly not the only ones. You can be good at finding out-of-the-box solutions for problems, making you a creative problem solver, or maybe you can cook some delightful new recipes, making you a creative chef. So, there are many ways one can be creative in life without becoming a conventional artist.