Quotes from Kathe Kollwitz

It is my duty to voice the suffering of men, the never-ending sufferings heaped mountain-high.

I was put in this world to change it.

I do not want to die... until I have faithfully made the most of my talent and cultivated the seed that was placed in me, until the last small twig has grown.

Look at life with the eyes of a child.

I am in the world to change the world.

The development of the national spirit in its present form leads into blind alleys. Some condition must be found which preserves the life of the nation, but rules out the fatal rivalry among nations.

While I drew, and wept along with the terrified children I was drawing, I really felt the burden I am bearing. I felt that I have no right to withdraw from the responsibility of being an advocate.

To this day I do not know whether the power which has inspired my works is something related to religion, or is indeed religion itself.

It seems to me nowadays that the most important task for someone who is aging is to spread love and warmth whenever possible.

There are moments on most days when I feel a deep and sincere gratitude, when I sit at the open window, and there is a blue sky or moving clouds.

I want to cultivate the seed that was placed in me until the last small twig has grown.

Every war carries within it the war which will answer it. Every war is answered by a new war, until everything, everything is smashed.

If all the people who have been hurt by the war were to exclude joy from their lives, it would almost be as if they had died.

Where do all the women who have watched so carefully over the lives of their beloved ones get the heroism to send them to face the cannon?

I can always paint very well with my eyes, but with my hands it doesn't always work out.

I have never been able to carry out any work coolly. On the contrary it is done, so to speak, with my own blood. Anyone who looks at my works must be able to sense that.

No longer diverted by other emotions, I work the way a cow grazes.

Bisexuality is almost a necessary factor in artistic production; at any rate, the tinge of masculinity within me helped me in my work.

Genius can probably run on ahead and seek out new ways. But the good artists who follow after genius - and I count myself among these - have to restore the lost connection once more.

Pacifism simply is not a matter of calm looking on; it is work, hard work.

Growing old is partly an inescapable process of accommodation and adjustment.

For the last third of life there remains only work. It alone is always stimulating rejuvenating exciting and satisfying.

I am afraid of dying-but being dead, oh yes, that to me is often an appealing prospect.