“The world is a nettle; disturb it, it stings.
Grasp it firmly, it stings not.”
Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton (1831–1891) English statesman and poet
Part iii, canto ii. Quoted by Walt Whitman in Roaming in Thought.
Lucile (1860)
“You paint stinging-nettles, and I prefer roses.”
Diaz, quoted by Muther; cited in The Barbizon Painters – being the story of the Men of thirty, Arthur Hoeber – associate of the National Academy of Design; publishers, Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York 1915, p. 138
according to Richard Muther this was the characteristic expression which Diaz used to Millet
Quotes of Diaz
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Do you have more details about the quote "You paint stinging-nettles, and I prefer roses." by Narcisse Virgilio Díaz?
Narcisse Virgilio Díaz6
French painter 1807–1876Related quotes
“Tender-handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains”
Aaron Hill (writer) (1685–1750) British writer
Verses Written on a Window in Scotland.
Context: Tender-handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains;
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains.’Tis the same with common natures:
Use ’em kindly, they rebel;
But be rough as nutmeg-graters,
And the rogues obey you well.
Aaron Hill (writer) (1685–1750) British writer
Verses Written on a Window in Scotland.
José Martí (1853–1895) Poet, writer, Cuban nationalist leader
As translated in Spanish-American Poetry : A Dual-language Anthology (1996) by Seymour Resnick
Variant translation:
I cultivate a white rose
In July as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his hand frankly. <p> And for the cruel person who tears out
the heart with which I live,
I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns:
I cultivate a white rose.
Simple Verses (1891), I Grow a White Rose
“Romantic: one who professes to prefer the thorns to the rose.”
Yahia Lababidi (1973)
Signposts to Elsewhere (2008)
“[I] preferred paintings full of daring to the nullities welcomed into every Salon.”
Charles-François Daubigny (1817–1878) French painter
Quote c. 1865; as cited in Corot', Gary Tinterow, Michael Pantazzi, Vincent Pomarède - Galeries nationales du Grand Palais (France), National Gallery of Canada, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), 1996, p. 272 – quote 65
Daubigny's work was frequently refused by the jury of the Salon; after c. 1865 he participated in the jury himself, often together with Corot.
1860s - 1870s
“I much prefer to drink coffee, listen to music and to paint when I feel like it.”
Saul Leiter (1923–2013) American photographer
As quoted in Saul Leiter (2008) by Agnès Sire
Context: In order to build a career and to be successful, one has to be determined. One has to be ambitious. I much prefer to drink coffee, listen to music and to paint when I feel like it.
