Quotes from Vincent van Gogh
From "The Letters of Vincent van Gogh"
"If we want to live and work we must be very careful and look after ourselves. Cold water, fresh air, simple good food, decent clothing, a good night's sleep and no worries. And no womanizing or living the good life whenever you feel the urge."
"Only Delacroix and Rembrandt have painted the face of Christ in such a way that I can feel him..."
"Science -- scientific reasoning -- strikes me as being an instrument that will go a very long way in the future."
"You ought to live like a monk who goes to the brothel every two weeks."
"Whole days go by without my speaking a single word to anyone, except to order my meals or a coffee."
"I realize that life carries us along so fast that we haven't the time to talk and to work as well. That is the reason why, with unity still a long way off, we are now sailing the trackless deep in our frail little boats, all alone on the high seas of our time."
"Anything complete and perfect renders infinity tangible, and the enjoyment of any beautiful thing is like coitus, a moment of infinity."
"A little good humor is worth more than all the medicines in the world."
"Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I see before me, I make more arbitrary use of color to express myself more forcefully."
"Achieving glory is something like shoving the lighted end of a cigar into one's mouth while smoking."
"Ah, my dear brother (Theo), sometimes I know so well what I want. I can well do without God in both my life and also in my painting, but, suffering as I am, I cannot do without something greater than myself, something which is my life -- the power to create."
"My dear Theo, I wrote to you earlier this morning (17 September 1888), then I went and did some more work on a picture of a sunny garden. Then I brought it back in -- and went out again with a blank canvas, and that, too, has been finished. And now I want to write to you again."
"I'm trying to recover, like someone who has meant to commit suicide, but then makes for the bank because he finds the water too cold."
"I have moments when I am twisted with enthusiasm or madness or prophecy, like a Greek oracle on his tripod."
"Much of the proficiency and technical expertise associated with art reminds me of what would be called self-righteousness in religion."
"One can express anguish without making direct reference to the actual Gethsemane. There is no need to portray figures from the Sermon on the Mount in order to express a comforting and gentle motif."