Quotes from Irving Stone

Life's not so bad after all. There are not only poison but also antidotes.

Art is amoral; so is life. For me there are no obscene pictures or books; there are only poorly conceived and poorly executed ones.

...that horrible moment of suspense when the artist shows one of his creations to strange eyes for the first time.

You cannot be the good all the time — sometimes it is necessary to get angry. [Vincent Van Gogh]

Drawing is the poet's written line, set down to see if there be a story worth telling, a truth worth revealing.

It's so easy to love. The only hard thing is to be loved. [Vincent Van Gogh]

There's no love without pain.

He who loves lives, he who lives works, and he who works has bread.

An artist without ideas is a mendicant; barren, he goes begging among the hours.

Everyone has their own personality, its own character, and if he respects that, everything would finally fall over for good only.

And suddenly Vincent clearly realised what his subconsciousness had known for a long time. All the talks about God are just childish elusion, just a lie that calms a scared and lonely ordinary mortal in a dark and neverending night. There is no God. Sure as fate - there is no God. There is only chaos - dismal, painful, cruel, agonizing, blind, endless chaos.

No man is born into the world whose work is not born with him.

Drawing is the poet's written line, set down to see if there be a story worth telling, a truth worth revealing.

What we know of others is our personal secret.

When I compare myself to the other fellows there is something stiff and awkward about me; I look as if I had been in prison for ten years.

The one who has not seen Paris in the morning does not know how beautiful it is.

What meaning has a compliment if one hears it night and day.

Artists thrive on suffering.

Who loves — lives, who lives - works, and who works has some bread.

Our secret thoughts - do they ever show up? The small flame of our soul can be burning hot, but no one comes to its warmth. Passersby see only a small whiff going through the chimney. Don't we need to take care of that flame, cherish it and patiently wait until someone will come and sit at it, do we?

I will be an artist. I am sure I will. [Vincent Van Gogh]

From the biography of Freud, by Irving Stone, said by Freud's fiance after he teased her for being sweet, Beware of truly sweet people. They have will of iron.

There are neither good nor evil, only the existence and action.

Vincent did not know how to express his feelings in words. He knew how to paint them. However, one cannot paint the farewell.