Good Artist Quotes

A good artist has less time than ideas. ~ Martin Kippenberger

You really can't be a good artist if you can't say what you really feel. And people may be offended, but, you know, that's how you feel, and that is your right, and that is your gift as well. ~ Alice Walker

What the world needs right now ... a good, artistic, gothic, terrifying scare ~ Iggy Pop

I always considered myself being an organizer. I'm very good at teaching singers, I'm very good at staging a show, to entertain people. But I never included myself. I never applied this to me as an artist. ~ Ike Turner

What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original. ~ Austin Kleon

When you're a producer and an artist you're very critical of yourself. I like to produce other people, but I'm not that good at producing myself. ~ Valerie Simpson

There isn't any great mystery about me. What I do is glamorous and has an awful lot of white-hot attention placed on it. But the actual work requires the same discipline and passion as any job you love doing, be it as a very good pipe fitter or a highly creative artist. ~ Tom Hanks

I think Taylor Swift is a really good artist. I feel like her personality shines through everything she does, her music, her fashion, her style. She won Album of the Year, and she's a really good writer. I'm a song writer so I respect artists who write their own songs. She won Album of the Year when she was 18 or something like that so, I think she's dope. ~ Mike Posner

Little did she know, I really did want to get hurt. It was irrational and probably stupid, but I wanted to feel the pain of having my emotions stomped all over. All of the best creative minds in the world had their hearts broken. It's what made their art genuine, vital, human. It had the potential to elevate me from just a "good" artist into a great one. ~ L. H. Cosway

For me, if the music is good, whether the artist is famous or unknown, I love being part of the music and contributing what I can to the bass end. ~ Tony Levin

The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn. ~ T. S. Eliot

A good artist should laugh often! ~ Francois Place

And every good artist knows that the gift comes from somewhere else, and it's there for a reason, and that's to make the world a better place. ~ James Lee Burke

I'm learning about filming, and just conceptualizing as well. I think it's a good artistic inroad, even to music as well. ~ Stevie Jackson

Being able to make work - if it's on your terms, and it's a good fit with the people who are supporting it - can be a very interesting exercise. When it doesn't work is when an artist just connects with a brand, and they try to take advantage of each other. ~ Marco Brambilla

Careers are not all up, up, up; do good work, continue to grow as an artist, and opportunity finds you. I have no sour grapes. ~ John Allison

I don't want to compare myself to Picasso, but he had four or five periods in his life. Any good artist grows and changes and matures. ~ Tucker Max

To be a good artist, you have to serve the work of art and allow it to be what it is supposed to be. ~ Larry Wall

You can't love someone without imaginative sympathy, without beginning to see the world from another point of view. You can't be a good lover, a good artist or a good politician without this capacity (you can get away with it, but that's not what I mean). Show me the tyrants who have been great lovers. ~ Julian Barnes

The first thing that any good artist has to develop is a sense of independence from the artworld. What really destroys a young artist is insecurity, the fear that everything could be taken away at any moment. ~ Jeff Koons

Within two weeks of working with her, I realized how good she was for the role because she was absolutely with it and she has got terrific instincts, I think, as an artist, too. ~ Albert Finney

I never want to be too mean with my songs, but with 'I Hope It Rains' it was definitely somewhere in the middle with being sassy but also a little class in there as well. It was a good blend for me and who I want to be perceived as an artist. ~ Jana Kramer

I like to imagine that the Neanderthals were all really good artists. ~ Jim Drain

I think that fame only goes to your head if you are not a real artist. If you are a real artist and a good person who loves what they are doing, you are going to be the same person. ~ Lady Starlight

I colour for a living. When I am a good artist, the only difference between me and a child is that I am more wrinkled. When I am not being a good artist, the only difference between me and a child is every difference imaginable. ~ Janice Tanton

I've always been a fan of Nigerian artist D'banj. He's now signed to Kanye West's Good Music label. ~ Estelle

Being a good artist is the toughest job you could pick, and you have to be a little nuts to take it on. ~ Charles Saatchi

I don't usually let people look at this."
"Why not?" Jace looked tousled, as if he'd been asleep himself. "You're a pretty good artist. Sometimes an excellent."
"Well, because - it's like a diary. Except I don't think in words, I think in pictures, so it's all drawings. But it's still private." She wondered if she sounded as crazy as she suspected.
Jace looked wounded. "A diary with no drawings of me in it? Where are the torrid fantasies? The romance novel covers? The - ~ Cassandra Clare

Drawing a good figure doesn't make you a good artist. I can name you ten men, right off the bat, who draw better than I do. But I don't think their work gets as much response as mine. I can't think of a better man to draw Dick Tracy than Chester Gould, who certainly is no match for Leonardo Da Vinci. But Chester Gould told the story of Dick Tracy. He told the story of Dick Tracy the way it should have been told. No other guy could have done it. It's not in the draftsmanship, it's in the man.

Like I say, a tool is dead. A brush is a dead object. It's in the man.

If you want to do, you do it. If you think a man draws the type of hands that you want to draw, steal 'em. Take those hands.

The only thing I can say is: Caniff was my teacher, Alex Raymond was my teacher, even the guy who drew Toonerville Trolley was my teacher. Whatever he had stimulated me in some way. And I think that's all you need. You need that stimulation. Stimulation to make you an individual. And the draftsmanship, hang it. If you can decently: learn to control what you can, learn to control what you have, learn to refine what you have. Damn perfection. You don't have to be perfect. You are never going to do a Sistine Chapel, unless someone ties you to a ceiling. Damn perfection.

All a man has in this field is pressure. And I think the pressure supplies a stimulation. You have your own stresses, that will supply your own stimulation. If you want to do it, you'll do ~ Jack Kirby

There's no "correct path" to becoming a real artist. You might think you'll gain legitimacy by going to art school, getting published, getting signed to a record label. But it's all bullshit, and it's all in your head. You're an artist when you say you are. And you're a good artist when you make somebody else experience or feel something deep or unexpected. ~ Amanda Palmer

I left Jamaica for a while, because as an artist I need to experience different things, see the world, have different energies. Living in one place is not good for me. ~ Ziggy Marley

I like to make records sound good. I'm more like a reducer than a producer. If an artist cannot produce themselves, what's the point? ~ Branford Marsalis

A true artist, in my mind, is willing to fail sometimes, because if you're not brave enough to say yes and follow your gut, it's never going to be good. ~ Alexander Skarsgard

Good new songs are the backbone of the music industry. There isn't an artist out there who could survive without hit songs. ~ Kara DioGuardi

I just consider myself an artist. I don't really rap. I don't really sing. I just do what I feel is good, and people like it. ~ Fetty Wap

Well we took it apart scene by scene. We examined every sentence, every full stop, every comma. He has a most wonderful eye for detail, Roman, and you know, he's a very good artist. ~ Ronald Harwood

In the beginning Marvel created the Bullpen and the Style. And the Bullpen was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the Artists. And the Spirit of Marvel said, Let there be The Fantasic Four. And there was The Fantasic Four. And Marvel saw The Fantasic Four. And it was good. ~ Stan Lee

No, I don't. I find them very superficial. Calculated. He's a good artist, but I think he could be a great one, if he could use more instinct and less technique. He's a very good draftsman. ~ Louise Penny

You're hot for two seconds, and you're struggling to get work again. If it were easy, I don't think that's a good place for an artist to work from. ~ Tatiana Maslany

All kids, when they go to school, are pretty good artists and dancers and singers and poets. All that gets buried, basically through being educated, or brainwashed. ~ William Wiley

It's valuable to me as an artist and actor to explore all kinds of outlets. So if a local filmmaker in Milwaukee had a good story, I'd be part of it in a second. ~ Tanya Fischer

A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is.
Thus the Master is available to all people
and doesn't reject anyone.
He is ready to use all situations
and doesn't waste anything.
This is called embodying the light.
What is a good man but a bad man's teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man's job?
If you don't understand this, you will get lost,
however intelligent you are.
It is the great secret. ~ Lao-Tzu

Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him. ~ William Faulkner

It is a good motive, fame and money, as it is tangible and measurable. Being an artist is neither measurable nor tangible and certainly not a way to become rich. ~ Dirk Benedict

It's a poor artist who borrows
a good artist steals. ~ Pablo Picasso

Being an artist doesn't mean that you're a good artist. That was the bargain I first made with myself: I'd say, I'm an artist, but I'm not really very good. ~ Paul Simon

I wasn't born an artist. I was really good in science as a kid. I probably shouldn't have been an artist because I'm much more interested in science. But I was raised by artists. I can't really escape it. ~ Julie Delpy

To be a good artist / letterer / designer / guitar player it takes practice. A lot of it. More than you can even fathom when you're starting out. ~ Jessica Hische

That day I behaved like a good artist, one whose job is to build rather than break. ~ Anuradha Bhattacharyya

A good artist must be good at many things. ~ Rick Riordan

It is very good advice to believe only what an artist does, rather than what he says about his work. ~ David Hockney

Acting ... was the biggest charge I ever had. What other artist has it so good? Approval so quick? ~ Elia Kazan

I'm competitive with anyone who writes a good song - I don't care if it's a band or solo artist or whoever. ~ Chris Martin

I do think Australians as a rule have a very good sensibility to them, and I think most people, if they were given the option, wouldn't choose to rip off a filmmaker or an artist - I don't think its part of the Australian psyche. ~ John Polson

For every good art critic there may be ten great artists. ~ Clement Greenberg

No amount of pay ever made a good soldier, a good teacher, a good artist, or a good workman. ~ John Ruskin

A good artist makes imaginations real! ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

Chaos in nature is immediately challenging and forces a good artist to impose some type of order on his or her perception of a site. ~ Wolf Kahn

The prosthetics were interesting because the artist was so good that they could just put a Hitchcock mask on me, but you don't want to do that. You're an actor playing Hitchcock, so it's about how much of that you're going to do. ~ Toby Jones

Make copies, young man, many copies. You can only become a good artist by copying the masters. ~ Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

I've always seen it as the role of an artist to drag his inside out, give the audience all you've got. Writers, actors, singers, all good artists do the same. It isn't supposed to be easy. ~ Henry Rollins

A good producer brings out the best in the artist he's working with. You shouldn't be able to listen to something and say, 'So-and-so produced this album.' ~ Eddie Van Halen

I don't feel that as an artist my job is to offer PR propaganda, whether for the good or for the bad. ~ Ayad Akhtar

Every good painter paints what he is. ~ Jackson Pollock

I try to be a good representative for country music. But as a country artist, it's important to move the needle and make a difference beyond your core audience. But you can't ever strategically try to accomplish that; then things get weird. ~ Luke Bryan

There ought to be an artistic depot where the artist need only hand in his artwork in order to receive what he asks for. As things are, one must be half a business man, and how can one understand - good heavens! - that's what I really call troublesome. ~ Ludwig Van Beethoven

I just want to make one really good movie a year. And when I die, to know I was honest as an artist. ~ Milla Jovovich

Only a bad artist thinks he has a good idea. A good artist does not need anything. ~ Ad Reinhardt

To an engineer, good enough means perfect. With an artist, there's no such thing as perfect. ~ Alexander Calder

A good artist ought never to allow impatience to overcome his sense of the main end of art - perfection ~ Michelangelo

Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is. ~ Jackson Pollock

The difference between a good artist and a bad one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal, the good one really does. ~ William Blake

You can't trust an artist that just makes good records. ~ Nick Cave

I've heard many times that with all good artists it's ultimately a self-portrait even if it's an abstraction. I feel my work is very much who I am. I didn't try to make it that way; it just is. It reflects who I am and also my interests. ~ Joyce Tenneson

The artist who imagines that he puts his best into a portrait in order to produce something good, which will be a pleasure to the sitter and to himself, will have some bitter experiences. ~ Jacob Epstein

Derek Trucks is a real good new artist. He's a young guy. ~ Johnny Winter

Every man who is any kind of artist has a great deal of female in him. I act and give of myself as a man, but I register and receive with the soul of a woman. The only really good artists are feminine. I can't admit the existence of an artist whose dominant personality is masculine. ~ Orson Welles

If I stop being on good behaviour for a moment, my dark little secret is that I don't actually believe many people in the art world have much feeling for art and simply cannot tell a good artist from a weak one, until the artist has enjoyed the validation of others - a received pronunciation. ~ Charles Saatchi

There are no rules about investment. Sharks can be good. Artist's dung can be good. Oil on canvas can be good. ~ Charles Saatchi

The malady of civilized man is his knowledge of death. The good artist, like the wise man, addresses himself to life and invests with his private vision the deeds and thoughts of men. The creation of a work of art, like an act of love, is our one small yes at the center of a vast no. ~ Gore Vidal

[A]ll popular and well-mixed governments [republics] ... are ever established by wise and good men, and can never be upheld otherwise than by virtue: The worst men always conspiring against them, they must fall, if the best have not power to preserve them ... [and] unless they be preserved in a great measure free from vices ... ~ Algernon Sidney

The types of climbing that I choose to do I'm good at justifying. I do really try and pick things that I'm going to live through. I don't want to die, and I'm relatively cautious. I play with that line all the time. I want things that are very exciting, so much so that they can feel almost spiritual. ~ Tommy Caldwell

For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner ... on an unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies ... That is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for us to understand that. ~ Carl Sagan

I am not much an advocate for traveling, and I observe that men run away to other countries because they are not good in their own, and run back to their own because they pass for nothing in the new places. For the most part, only the light characters travel. Who are you that have no task to keep you at home? ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I don't think you realize who you're dealing with."
The man clicked his tongue, "If you were that good, you would be more than just Captain of the Guard."
Chaol let out a low, breathy laugh. "I wasn't talking about me."
"She's just one girl."
Though his guts were twisting at the thought of her in this place, with these people, though he was considering every possible way to get himself and Celaena out of here alive, he gave the man a grin.
"Then you're really in for a big surprise. ~ Sarah J. Maas

Clown: Good Madonna, why mournest thou?
Olivia: Good Fool, for my brother's death.
Clown:I think his soul is in hell, Madonna.
Olivia:I know his soul is in heaven, Fool.
Clown: The more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven. ~ William Shakespeare

It's good for people to look at me and think, 'This guy is doing his thing and enjoying what he's doing and successful at it and living his life.' And that's what I'm doing, and I'm very happy. ~ Luke Evans

But when thou findest sensibility of heart, joined with softness of manners, an accomplished mind, and religion, united with sweetness of temper, modest deportment, and a love of domestic life; such is the woman who will divide the sorrows and double the joys of thy life. Take her to thyself; she is worthy to be thy nearest friend, thy companion, the wife of thy bosom. ~ Noah Webster

A really honest man will neither take nor covet his neighbor's good, indeed it may be said that he cannot steal; yet he is capable of stealing should be so elect. His honesty is an armor against temptation; but the coat of mail, the helmet, the breastplate, and the greaves, are but an outward covering; the man within may be vulnerable if he can be reached. - ch. 10 of Jesus the Christ ~ James Talmage

Those who sniff decay in every shift of sense or alteration of usage do the language no service. Too often for such people the notion of good English has less to do with expressing ideas clearly than with making words conform to some arbitrary pattern. ~ Bill Bryson

In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. ~ Charlie Chaplin

our situation reminded me of a fable I had read somewhere. Chased by a tiger, a man slips and falls over the edge of a mountain. As he falls, he manages to grab a bush growing by the side of the mountain and hangs on to it for dear life. The bush is laden with wild strawberries that hang tantalizingly near his mouth. As the tiger snarls above his head and a gorge stretches beneath his dangling feet, the man takes a bite from a luscious berry. 'How sweet,' he exclaims as he relishes its taste.

I do not remember the moral attached to the fable. It might have been a commentary on the ephemeral nature of life, on how foolish it is to imagine that there is happiness to be found in the world when death is certain and likely to happen at any time. Or it might have been an exhortation to seize the day and squeeze the most out of every moment, for, in any case, we are
all going to die. It might have made a reasonably good ad for strawberries, which were so good that you simply had to eat them, even if it was the last thing you did. ~ Indu Muralidharan

The falsehood of all the revolutions of history: they destroy only those carriers of evil contemporary with them (and also fail, out of haste, to discriminate the carriers of good as well). And they take to themselves as their heritage the actual evil itself, magnified still more. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Tyrion turned to his nephew. "Joffrey, it is past time you called on Lord Eddard and his lady, to offer them your comfort."

Joffrey looked as petulant as only a boy prince can look. "What good will my comfort do them?"

"None," Tyrion said. "Yet it is expected of you. Your absence has been noted."

"The Stark boy is nothing to me," Joffrey said. "I cannot abide the wailing of women."

Tyrion Lannister reached up and slapped his nephew hard across the face. The boy's cheek began to redden.

"One word," Tyrion said, "and I will hit you again."

"I'm going to tell Mother!" Joffrey exclaimed.

Tyrion hit him again. Now both cheeks flamed.

"You tell your mother," Tyrion told him. "But first you get yourself to Lord and Lady Stark, and you fall to your knees in front of them, and you tell them how very sorry you are, and that you are at their service if there is the slightest thing you can do for them or theirs in this desperate hour, and that all your prayers go with them. Do you understand? ~ George R.R. Martin

Fear you?" she said without thinking. "Good God, I would never do that."
Easing her head back, Westcliff looked at her while a slow smile spread across his face. "No, you wouldn't," he agreed. "You'd spit in the devil's eye if it suited you. ~ Lisa Kleypas

We should not expect individuals to produce good, open-minded, truth-seeking reasoning, particularly when self-interest or reputational concerns are in play. But if you put individuals together in the right way, such that some individuals can use their reasoning powers to disconfirm the claims of others, and all individuals feel some common bond or shared fate that allows them to interact civilly, you can create a group that ends up producing good reasoning as an emergent property of the social system. This is why it's so important to have intellectual and ideological diversity within any group or institution whose goal is to find truth (such as an intelligence agency or a community of scientists) or to produce good public policy (such as a legislature or advisory board). ~ Jonathan Haidt

Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die. ~ Anne Boleyn

K.T. sighs. If you mess with her head, I'll personally hunt you down, but otherwise, good luck. If you can get her to talk, you're a freaking miracle worker. Hell, if you can get her to actually smile, her parents might throw you a party. ~ Erica Cameron

He says - slow on the switchbacks, cheap with the whiskey, but a good heart. For a dead man. ~ Kami Garcia

The way I see it, life is a jelly doughnut. You don't really know what it's about until you bite into it. And then, just when you decided it's good, you drop a big glob of jelly on your best T-shirt. ~ Janet Evanovich