45 Best Inspirational Quotes for Artists
Being an artist is both rewarding and discouraging at times.
It takes courage and perseverance to push through the challenges that come with creating art and putting it into the world.
Taking the first step is always the most difficult, but once you do, great things happen! And for that to happen, it’s important to have the right mindset.
45 inspirational quotes about art and creativity
Here are 45 positive, inspiring quotes to motivate you to keep creating art (or maybe to remind you of why you wanted to make art in the first place).
- “If you hear a voice within you saying ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh
- “This world is but a canvas to our imagination.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams
- “Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.” – Andre Gide
- “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton
- “What art offers is space – a certain breathing room for the spirit.” – John Updike
- “The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.” – Paul Strand
- “The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.” – Emile Zola
- “An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.” – Charles Horton Cooley
- “You can’t do sketches enough. Sketch everything and keep your curiosity fresh.” – John Singer Sargent
- “The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.” – Eugene Delacroix
- “What is art but a way of seeing?” – Saul Bellow
- “The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- “To be an artist includes much; one must possess many gifts – absolute gifts – which have not been acquired by one’s own effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the artist must possess the courageous soul.” – Kate Chopin
- “Trying to force creativity is never good.” – Sarah McLachlan
- “When artists make art, they shouldn’t question whether it is permissible to do one thing or another.” – Sol LeWitt
- “Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas
- “Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression.” – Isaac Bashevis Singer
- “I don’t think there’s any artist of any value who doesn’t doubt what they’re doing.” – Francis Ford Coppola
- “As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward.” – Vincent Van Gogh
- “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Pablo Picasso
- “Creativity takes courage.” – Henry Matisse
- “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dali
- “Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” – Henry Ward Beecher
- “To create one’s own world takes courage.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
- “Inspiration does exist but it must find you working.” – Pablo Picasso
- “Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take risks.” – Mark Rothko
- “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Andy Warhol
- “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Van Gogh
- “The public wants to understand and learn in a single day, a single minute, what the artist has spent years learning.” – Paul Gaugin
- “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou
- “A true artist is not one who is inspired but one who inspires others.” – Salvador Dali
- “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” – Bob Ross
- “It isn’t until the painter has no idea what he’s doing that he makes good paintings.” – Edgar Degas
- “An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” – Edwin Land
- “Creativity is seeing what others see and thinking what no one else ever thought.” – Albert Einstein
- “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” – Sylvia Plath
- “If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” – Edward Hopper
- “Anything that you’re willing to practice, you can do.” – Bob Ross
- “A good artist has less time than ideas.” – Martin Kippenberger
- “There is no must in art because art is free.” – Wassily Kandinsky
- “An artist never really finishes his work; he merely abandons it.” – Paul Valéry
- “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” – Pablo Picasso
- “Creative work is a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.” – Steven Pressfield
There you have it, 45 of the best inspirational quotes for artists.
Keep moving forward. The world needs you and your creativity 🩵
Bookmark this post so you can come back to it when you need a little encouragement!
