“Among the several sins that I have been accused of committing, none is more false than the one that I have, as the principal objective in my work, the spirit of research . When I paint my object is to show what I have found and not what I am looking for. In art intentions are not sufficient and, as we say in Spanish , love must be proved by facts and not by reasons... [Paris 1923]. As quoted in Futurism , ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008, p. 311”
All Quotes
433 quotes in total
“When I hear people speak of the evolution of an artist, it seems to me that they are considering him standing between two mirrors that face each other and reproduce his image an infinite number of times, and that they contemplate the successive images of one mirror as his past, and the images of the other mirror as his future, while his real image is taken as his present. They do not consider that they all are the same images in different planes... [Paris 1923]. As quoted in Futurism , ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008, p. 311”
“They speak of naturalism in opposition to modern painting . I would like to know if anyone has ever seen a natural work of art. Nature and art , being two different things, cannot be the same thing. Through art we express our conception of what nature is not. Velasquez left us his idea of the people of his epoch. Undoubtedly they were different from what he painted them, but we cannot conceive a Philip IV in any other way than the one Velasquez painted... [Paris 1923]. As quoted in Futurism , ed. Didier Ottinger; Centre Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008, p. 312”
“I can hardly understand the importance given to the word research in connection with modern painting. In my opinion to search means nothing in painting. To find is the thing. Nobody is interested in following a man who, with his eyes fixed on the ground, spends his life looking for the purse that fortune should put in his path. The one who finds something no matter what it might be, even if his intention were not to search for it, at least arouses our curiosity, if not our admiration. p. 315”
“We all know that Art is not truth . Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies. If he only shows in his work that he has searched, and re”
“Cubism is no different from any other school of painting. The same principles and the same elements are common to all. The fact that for a long time cubism has not been understood and that even today there are people who cannot see anything in it, means nothing. I do not read English, and an English book is a blank to me. This does not mean that the English language does not exist, and why should I blame anyone but myself if I cannot understand what I know nothing about? p. 319.”
“Variation does not mean evolution. If an artist varies his mode of expression this only means that he has changed his manner of thinking, and in changing, it might be for the better or it might be for the worse. p. 391.”
“Many think that Cubism is an art of transition, an experiment which is to bring ulterior results. Those who think that way have not understood it. Cubism is not either a seed or a foetus, but an art dealing primarily with forms, and when a form is realized it is there to live its own life. A mineral substance, having geometric formation, is not made so for transitory purposes, it is to remain what it is and will always have its own form. p. 323.”
“Mathematics , trigonometry , chemistry , psychoanalysis , music , and what not have been related to cubism to give it an easier interpretation. All this has been pure literature , not to say nonsense, which brought bad results, blinding people with theories. Cubism has kept itself within the limits and limitations of painting, never pretending to go beyond it.”
“The idea of research has often made painting go astray, and made the artist lose himself in mental lucubrations. Perhaps this has been the principal fault of modern art. The spirit of research has poisoned those who have not fully understood all the positive and conclusive elements in modern art and has made them attempt to paint the invisible and, therefore, the unpaintable.”
“I shall assume that your silence gives consent . 435b”
“of the soul , their notion being that the soul is buried in the present life ; and again, because by its means the soul gives any signs which it gives, it is for this reason also properly called”
“If the very essence of knowledge changes, at the moment of the change to another essence of knowledge there would be no knowledge, and if it is always changing, there will always be no knowledge, and by this reasoning there will be neither anyone to know nor anything to be known. But if there is always that which knows and that which is known”
“No man of sense can put himself and his soul under the control of names... You must consider courageously and thoroughly and not accept anything carelessly. 440c”
“Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder. 155d, The Dialogues of Plato , Volume 3, 1871, p. 377”
“It is impossible that evils should be done away with, for there must always be something opposed to the good; and they… must inevitably hover about mortal nature and this earth. Therefore we ought to try to escape from earth to the dwelling of the gods as quickly as we can; and to escape is to become like God, so far as this is possible… God is in no wise and in no manner unrighteous, but utterly and perfectly righteous, and there is nothing so like him as that one of us who in turn becomes most nearly perfect in righteousness. 176a”
“They do not know the penalty of unrighteousness, which is the thing they most ought to know. For it is not what they think it is”
“Perception and knowledge could never be the same. 186e”
“Neither perception nor true opinion, nor reason or explanation combined with true opinion could be knowledge… Then our art of midwifery declare to us that all the offspring that have been born are mere wind”
“I do see one large and grievous kind of ignorance, separate from the rest, and as weighty as all the other parts put together. Thinking that one knows a thing when one does not know it. Through this, I believe, all the mistakes of the mind are caused in all of us. 229c”
“I was Euphorbus at the siege of Troy. As reported by Heraclides Ponticus ( c . 360 BC), and Diogenes Laërtius ( Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers , "Pythagoras", Sect. 4), and quoted in Cosmic Optimism: A Study of the Interpretation of Evolution (1949) by Frederick William Conner”
“I was at Euphorbus at the siege of Troy.”
“By the air which I breathe, and by the water which I drink, I will not endure to be blamed on account of this discourse. As reported by Heraclides Ponticus ( c . 360 BC), and Diogenes Laërtius, in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers , "Pythagoras", Sect. 6, in the translation of C. D. Yonge”
“Dear youths, I warn you cherish peace divine , And in your hearts lay deep these words of mine. As reported by Heraclides, son of Sarapion, and Diogenes Laërtius, in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers , "Pythagoras", Sect. 7, in the translation of C. D. Yonge”
“Τὴν δ' ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴν διῃρῆσθαι τριχῆ, εἴς τε νοῦν καὶ φρένας καὶ θυμόν. νοῦν μὲν οὖν καὶ θυμὸν εἶναι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ζῴοις, φρένας δὲ μόνον ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ. The soul of man is divided into three parts, intelligence , reason , and passion . Intelligence and passion are possessed by other animals, but reason by man alone.”
“As reported by Alexander Polyhistor , and Diogenes Laërtius in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers , "Pythagoras", Sect. 30, in the translation of C. D. Yonge”
“ἀλλήλοις θ᾽ ὁμιλεῖν, ὡς τοὺς μὲν φίλους ἐχθροὺς μὴ ποιῆσαι, τοὺς δ᾽ ἐχθροὺς φίλους ἐργάσασθαι. ἴδιόν τε μηδὲν ἡγεῖσθαι. We ought so to behave to one another as to avoid making enemies of our friends, and at the same time to make friends of our enemies.”
“As quoted in Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers , "Pythagoras", Sect. 23, as translated in Dictionary of Quotations (1906) by Thomas Benfield Harbottle, p. 320”
“ἐν ὀργῇ μήτε τι λέγειν μήτε πράσσειν In anger we should refrain both from speech and action.”
“As quoted in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers , "Pythagoras", Sect. 23”