Quotes About Craftsmanship

Poetry is an art, and chief of the fine art; the easiest to dabble in, the hardest in which to reach true excellence.

Modern poets add a lot of water to their ink.

What would they say if they knew I sit for two months on six lines of poetry?

We were clever enough to turn a laundry list into poetry.

Poetry is what happens when an anxiety meets a technique.

Whatever poetry that was in me was coming out in the form of constructing art books!

Poetry is a subject as precise as geometry.

It is Homer who has chiefly taught other poets the art of telling lies skilfully.

Folk art has never been much about politics; it's about action and utility.

It wasn't that I had any great dream of being an architect. I just wanted to make things. Whether it was furniture, painting, interior design, or architecture. I just wanted to create something.

One twig at a time. Like a bird making a nest.

A masterpiece is a piece that masters things.

Whatsoever you set your hands on doing, do it in such a way that your work will always stand out.

You can survive without artistry, but you cannot live without artistry.

The irregular and intimate quality of things made entirely by the human hand.

That irregular and intimate quality of things made entirely by the human hand.

Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.

With pen and with pencil we're learning to say Nothing, more cleverly every day.

In his terrific book, Adventures in the Screen Trade, William Goldman wrote that the best approach to a good scene is to leave out the beginning and the end (the parts readers can readily guess or that matter least)

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal the good one really does.

Irish poets, learn your trade,Sing whatever is well made.

We have lit upon the gentle, sensitive mindAnd lost the old nonchalance of the hand;Whether we have chosen chisel, pen or brush,We are but critics, or but half create.

I said, "A line will take us hours maybe;Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought,Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.Better go down upon your marrow-bonesAnd scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones."

I said: 'A line will take us hours maybe; Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought, Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.