I am no friend of present-day Christianity, though its Founder was sublime.

Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful.

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.

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

The beginning is perhaps more difficult than anything else, but keep heart, it will turn out all right.

My goal is not to make people admire my art, but to move them.

The more you love, the more you suffer.

The sunflower is mine, in a way.

I’ll start with small things.

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

The purpose of art is to give a new perspective.

The great artist is the simplifier.

I wish they would take me as I am.

There is peace even in the storm.

Conscience is a man’s compass.

One must work and dare if one really wants to live.

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.

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 sadness will last forever.

I try more and more to be myself, caring relatively little whether people approve or disapprove.

It’s not the language that’s important; it’s the communication that counts.

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.

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 am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.

The way to know life is to love many things.

I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate.

Doing little things well is a step toward doing big things better.

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

What is done in love is done well.

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.

I would rather die of passion than of boredom.

The sight of stars makes me dream.

There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

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

The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.

I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.

Be clearly aware of the stars and infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all.

Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.

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

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

Art is to console those who are broken by life.

It is good to 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 well done.

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

I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.