James Whistler Quotes

On this page you can find the TOP of James Whistler's best quotes! We hope you will find some sayings from Artist James Whistler's in our collection, which will inspire you to new achievements! There are currently 45 quotes on this page collected since July 10, 1834! Share our collection of quotes with your friends on social media so that they can find something to inspire them!
All quotes by James Whistler: Art Harmony Painting more...
  • Work alone will efface the footsteps of work.

    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.100, Courier Corporation
  • If the man who paints only the tree, or flower, or other surface he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do something beyond this.

    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.107, Courier Corporation
  • I always ask at once, 'Do you drink?' and if she says 'No,' I bow politely and say I am sorry but I fear she will not suit. All good cooks drink.

    Sorry   Food   Cooking  
  • Art is a goddess of dainty thought, reticent of habit, abjuring all obtrusiveness, purposing in no way to better others. She is, withal selfishly occupied with her own perfection only - having no desire to teach.

    Art   Perfection   Desire  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.110, Courier Corporation
  • The masterpiece should appear as the flower to the painter - perfect in its bud as in its bloom - with no reason to explain its presence - no mission to fulfill - a joy to the artist, a delusion to the philanthropist - a puzzle to the botanist - an accident of sentiment and alliteration to the literary man.

    Flower   Artist   Men  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.100, Courier Corporation
  • I am not arguing with you - I am telling you.

    Arguing  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.57, Courier Corporation
  • It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait.

    Art   Men   Long  
  • Art happens-no hovel is safe from it, no prince may depend upon it, the vastest intelligence cannot bring it about.

    Art   Intelligence   May  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.118, Courier Corporation
  • You shouldn't say it is not good. You should say, you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe.

    Life   Attitude   Advice  
    "Whistler Stories". Book by Don Carlos Seitz, 1913.
  • Industry in art is a necessity - not a virtue - and any evidence of the same, in the production, is a blemish, not a quality; a proof, not of achievement, but of absolutely insufficient work, for work alone will efface the footsteps of work.

    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.100, Courier Corporation
  • For art and joy go together, with bold openness, and high head, and ready hand - fearing naught and dreading no exposure.

    Art   Hands   Joy  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.120, Courier Corporation
  • A student of James McNeill Whistler tells the great artist, 'I tend to paint what I see.' Whistler replies, 'Ah! The shock will come when you see what you paint!

    Artist   Students   Paint  
  • A picture is finished when all trace of the means used to bring about the end has disappeared.

    Mean   Finishing   Used  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.100, Courier Corporation
  • Over and over again did the Attorney-General cry out aloud, in the agony of his cause, 'What is to become of painting if the critics withhold their lash?

    Agony   Causes   Painting  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.44, Courier Corporation
  • The rare few, who, early in life have rid themselves of the friendship of the many.

    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.26, Courier Corporation
  • I can't tell you if genius is hereditary, because heaven has granted me no offspring.

  • Nature is usually wrong.

    Nature  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.114, Courier Corporation
  • I remember that at one time I always made a drawing before going to bed!! - Of myself I mean - though I finally destroyed most of them.

    Mean   Drawing   Bed  
    Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler (1976). “Whistler: The Graphic Work: Amsterdam, Liverpool, London, Venice: An Exhibition Organised by Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and the Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow, in Association with the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976”
  • The vast majority of English folk cannot and will not consider a picture as a picture, apart from any story which it may be supposed to tell.

    Majority   Stories   May  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.106, Courier Corporation
  • Frederic Leighton to James McNeill Whistler: 'My dear Whistler, you leave your pictures in such a sketchy, unfinished state. Why don't you ever finish them?' James McNeill Whistler to Frederic Leighton: 'My dear Leighton, why do you ever begin yours?

  • Hang on the walls of your mind the memory of your successes. Take counsel of your strength, not your weakness. Think of the good jobs you have done. Think of the times when you rose above your average level of performance and carried out an idea or a dream or a desire for which you had deeply longed. Hang these pictures on the walls of your mind and look at them as you travel the roadway of life.

  • To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player that he may sit on the piano.

    Music   Taken   Player  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.114, Courier Corporation
  • If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes impossible.

  • Truly color is vice! Of course, it can be, and has the right to be one of the finest virtues. Controlled by the strong hand and careful guidance of her Master drawing, color is a splendid Mistress, with a mate worthy of herself, her lover, but her Master likewise, the most magnificent Mistress possible, and the result is evident in all the glorious things that spring from their union.

    Strong   Spring   Hands  
  • The world is divided into two classes - invalids and nurses.

    Class   Two   Nurse  
  • An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.

    Tattoo   Art   Creativity  
  • To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it shows great and earnest labour, is to say that it is incomplete and unfit for view.

    Views   Praise   Said  
  • People will forgive anything but beauty and talent. So I am doubly unpardonable.

  • The work of a master reeks not of the sweat of the brow - suggests no effort - and is finished from its beginning.

    Sweat   Effort   Masters  
    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.100, Courier Corporation
  • Listen! There was never an artistic period. There was never an art-loving nation.

    James M. Whistler (2012). “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies”, p.112, Courier Corporation
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  • We hope you have found the saying you were looking for in our collection! At the moment, we have collected 45 quotes from the Artist James Whistler, starting from July 10, 1834! We periodically replenish our collection so that visitors of our website can always find inspirational quotes by authors from all over the world! Come back to us again!
    James Whistler quotes about: Art Harmony Painting