Quotes from Irving Stone

I do not know a better cure for mental illness than a book.

Savoir souffrir sans se plaindre, ça c'est la seule chose pratique, c'est la grande science, la leçon à apprendre, la solution du problème de la vie. [Knowing how to suffer without complaining is the only practical thing, it's the great science, the lesson to learn, the solution to the problem of life.]

Each of us has his own alphabet with which to create poetry.

He had always loved God. In his darkest hours he cried out, "God did not create us to abandon us.

He had been standing still; for an artist, one of the more painful forms of death.

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

Reading has always been the largest and most irreplaceable pleasure for Vincent; reading about other people's successes and failures, joys and sufferings seemed to bury his own failures.

Someday my paintings will be hanging in the Louvre. [Vincent Van Gogh]

The most perfect guide is nature. Continue without fail to draw something every day.

We...believe that art is religious, because it is one of man's highest aspirations. There is no such thing as pagan art, only good and bad art.

A person may paint or talk about painting but he cannot do both at the same time.

After all, the world is still great.

Listen, my friend, all forms that exist in God's universe can be found in the human figure. A man's body and face can tell everything he represents. So how could I ever exhaust my interest in it?

My goal always is to tell a universal story, meaning it's about a person who has an idea, a vision, a dream, an ambition to make the world somewhat less chaotic.

My books are based 98 percent on documentary evidence.