“It is known that Whistler when asked how long it took him to paint one of his "nocturnes" answered: "All of my life."”

— Jorge Luis Borges

With the same rigor he could have said that all of the centuries that preceded the moment when he painted were necessary. From that correct application of the law of causality it follows that the slightest event presupposes the inconceivable universe and, conversely, that the universe needs even the slightest of events.
"Gauchesque Poetry"
Discussion (1932)

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Jorge Luis Borges 213

Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator… 1899–1986

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“It is known that Whistler when asked how long it took him to paint one of his "nocturnes" answered: "All of my life." With the same rigor he could have said that all of the centuries that preceded the moment when he painted were necessary. From that correct application of the law of causality it follows that the slightest event presupposes the inconceivable universe and, conversely, that the universe needs even the slightest of events.”

Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish language literature

"Gauchesque Poetry"
Discussion (1932)

“"I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me."
After a pause full of intense thought on my part, I asked: "But if one hasn't always emotion. What then?"
"Do not paint," he quickly answered. "When I came in here to work this morning I had no emotion, so I took a horseback ride. When I returned I felt like painting, and had all the emotion I wanted.”

Henri Matisse (1869–1954) French artist

Interview with Clara T. MacChesney (1912), in Matisse on Art (1995) edited by Jack D. Flam, p. 66
1910s

“Congressman Nixon had asked me why, as the son of immigrants who had been treated so well by Americans, as a man who had been treated like a son and been sent to Harvard by an American capitalist, I had been so ungrateful to the American economic system.
The answer I gave him was not original. Nothing about me has ever been original. I repeated what my one-time hero, Kenneth Whistler, had said in reply to the same general sort of question long, long ago. Whistler had been a witness at a trial of strikers accused of violence. The judge had become curious about him, had asked him why such a well-educated man from such a good family would so immerse himself in the working class.
My stolen answer to Nixon was this: "Why? The Sermon on the Mount, sir."”

Kurt Vonnegut book Jailbird

Jailbird (1979)

“It is surprising how long it takes to do a simple addition when your life depends on the answer.”

Arthur C. Clarke book Breaking Strain

Breaking Strain, p. 172
2000s and posthumous publications, The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke (2001)

“When asked, "How do you write?" I invariably answer, "one word at a time."”

Stephen King book The Stand

The Stand (Uncut), Preface (part 2)
The Stand (1978)

“Why do you paint?
For exactly the same reason I breathe.
That’s not an answer.
There isn’t any answer.
How long hasn’t there been any answer?
As long as I can remember.
And how long have you written?
As long as I can remember.
I mean poetry.
So do I.”

E.E. Cummings (1894–1962) American poet

"Forward to an Exhibit: II" (1945)

“If you ask how he is to know when one interest outweighs another, I can only answer that he must get his knowledge just as the legislator gets it, from experience and study and reflection; in brief, from life itself.”

Benjamin N. Cardozo (1870–1938) United States federal judge

Page 113
Other writings, The Nature of the Judicial Process (1921)

“After all, there's only one answer to be made to the young fellow who is asking constantly for advice as to how to hit. The answer is: "Pick out a good one and sock it!”

Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American baseball player

"Chapter XIV," Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball (1928), p. 199; reprinted as "Babe Ruth's Own Story — Chapter XIV (Continued)," https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AmIbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9EoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4927%2C1635850&dq=after-all-pick-out-good-one-sock The Pittsburgh Press (February 4, 1929), p. 17
Context: After all, there's only one answer to be made to the young fellow who is asking constantly for advice as to how to hit. The answer is: "Pick out a good one and sock it!" I've talked to a lot of pretty good hitters in the past ten years and I've watched them work. Go over the list from top to bottom—Hornsby, Goslin, Heilmann, Gehrig, Traynor, Cobb, Judge, Bottomley, Roush—there's not a "guess" hitter in the lot. They all tell you the same thing "I never think about whether it's a curve or a fast one that's coming. I simply get set—and if the ball looks good, I sock it."

“When he was asked what advantage had accrued to him from philosophy, his answer was, “The ability to hold converse with myself.””

Antisthenes (-444–-365 BC) Greek philosopher

§ 4
From Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius

“I know of only two painters in the world,' said a newly introduced feminine enthusiast to Whistler, 'yourself and Velasquez.' 'Why,' answered Whistler in dulcet tones, 'why drag in Velasquez?”

James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) American-born, British-based artist

D.C. Seitz, Whistler Stories (1913)
posthumous published

“It is known that Whistler when asked how long it took him to paint one of his "nocturnes" answered: "All of my life."”

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Jorge Luis Borges 213

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