Vincent Van Gogh Quotes

The sunflower is mine,
in a way.

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

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.

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.

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

Art is to console those who are broken by life.

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

How lovely yellow is! It stands for the sun.

If one truly loves nature one finds beauty everywhere.

What am I in the eyes of most people - a nonentity,
an eccentric,
or an unpleasant person - somebody who has no position in society and will never have;
in short,
the lowest of the low.
All right,
then - even if that were absolutely true,
then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric,
such a nobody,
has in his heart.

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

For great things do not done just happen by impulse but are a succession of small things linked together.

Color in a picture is like enthusiasm in life.

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

There is no blue without yellow and without orange.

Yellow is capable of charming God.

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

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

There is peace even in the storm

For my part I know nothing with any certainty,
but the sight of the stars makes me dream.

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 working with the enthusiasm of a man from Marseilles eating bouillabaisse,
which shouldn't come as a surprise to you because I am busy painting huge sunflowers.

I am painting with the same enthusiasm as a Marseillaise eats bouillabaisse ...
I am painting big sunflowers.

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

As practice makes perfect,
I cannot but make progress;
each drawing one makes,
each study one paints,
is a step forward.

An artist needn't be a clergyman or a churchwarden,
but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.

All art is a gift.
It is first of all a gift that the maker can do it.
It is then a gift to someone else,
whether they pay for it or not.
The wonder of it is that we cannot get the production of these gifts stopped.
Art is life seeking itself.
It is our intractable expressions of love for the beauties,
ideas and epiphanies we regularly find.
I framed the painting.
It's now hanging in our den.
"I have walked this earth for 30 years,
and,
out of gratitude,
want to leave some souvenir.

What is done in love is done well.

So often,
a visit to a bookshop has cheered me,
and reminded me that there are good things in the world.

Let’s not forget that the little emotions are the great captains of our lives and we obey them without realizing it.

It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes,
than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent.

I never get tired of the blue sky.

Success is sometimes the outcome of a whole string of failures.

The heart of man is very much like the sea,
it has its storms,
it has its tides and in its depths it has its pearls too

My sketchbook is a witness of what I am experiencing,
scribbling things whenever they happen.

If I am worth anything later,
I am worth something now.
For wheat is wheat,
even if people think it is a grass in the beginning.

As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult,
but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

If you end up falling in love with someone,
it's because of them.
If you end up hating someone,
it's because of you.

When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word - religion.
Then I go out and paint the stars.

Many people seem to think it foolish,
even superstitious,
to believe that the world could still change for the better.
And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say,
'What do I care if there is a summer;
its warmth is no help to me now.' Yes,
evil often seems to surpass good.
But then,
in spite of us,
and without our permission,
there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts.
One morning the wind turns,
and there is a thaw.
And so I must still have hope.

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

I have played hell somewhat with the truthfulness of the colours.

But I always think that the best way to know God is to love many things.

Do you know what makes the prison disappear? Every deep,
genuine affection.
Being friends,
being brothers,
loving,
that is what opens the prison,
with supreme power,
by some magic force.
Without these one stays dead.
But whenever affection is revived,
there life revives.

...and then,
I have nature and art and poetry,
and if that is not enough,
what is enough?

It is only too true that a lot of artists are mentally ill - it's a life which,
to put it mildly,
makes one an outsider.
I'm all right when I completely immerse myself in work,
but I'll always remain half crazy.

I confess I do not know why,
but looking at the stars always makes me dream.

The more you love,
the more you suffer.

But you people do not understand me,
and I am afraid you never will.

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