“There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman.”

—  Emile Zola

Letter to Paul Cézanne (16 April 1860), as published in Paul Cézanne : Letters (1995) edited by John Rewald.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman." by Emile Zola?
Emile Zola photo
Emile Zola 54
French writer (1840-1902) 1840–1902

Related quotes

Hesiod photo

“Potter bears a grudge against potter, and craftsman against craftsman, and beggar is envious of beggar, and bard of bard.”

Hesiod book Works and Days

Source: Works and Days (c. 700 BC), line 25.

Ptahhotep photo

“Be a craftsman in speech that thou mayest be strong, for the strength of one is the tongue, and speech is mightier than all fighting.”

Ptahhotep Ancient Egyptian vizier

The Maxims of Ptahhotep (c. 2350 BCE)

W. H. Auden photo

“A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it.”

W. H. Auden book Forewords and Afterwords

"A Poet of the Actual", p. 265
Forewords and Afterwords (1973)
Context: A craftsman knows in advance what the finished result will be, while the artist knows only what it will be when he has finished it. But it is unbecoming in an artist to talk about inspiration; that is the reader's business.

Thomas Dekker photo

“ONAELIA: What sort of poets are there?
POET: Two sorts lady: The great poets and the small poets.
ONAELIA: Great and small! Which do you call the great? The fat ones?”

Thomas Dekker The Noble Spanish Soldier

The Noble Spanish Soldier (1622)

“The skills of the modern artist are the opposite of those of the craftsman: instead of acquiring techniques for producing classes of objects, the artist today perfects the means suited to his particular work.”

Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978) American writer and art critic

Source: Art & Other Serious Matters, (1985), p. 51, "Inquest into Modernism"

Torquato Tasso photo

“The craftsman is in his own craft beguiled.”

Torquato Tasso (1544–1595) Italian poet

Lo schermitor vinto è di schermo.
Canto XIX, stanza 14 (tr. Fairfax)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)

Pythagoras photo

“None but a Craftsman can judge of a craft.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

The Sayings of the Wise (1555), p. 161

Truman Capote photo

“[You've said your material chooses you. ] That's the difference between the serious artist and the craftsman—-the craftsman can take material and because of his abilities do a professional job of it. The serious artist, like Proust, is like an object caught by a wave and swept to shore. He's obsessed by his material; it's like a venom working in his blood and the art is the antidote.”

Truman Capote (1924–1984) American author

From a 1968 interview
Truman Capote: Conversations (1987)

Keith Olbermann photo

“A good craftsman doesn't blame his tools.”

Keith Olbermann (1959) American sports and political commentator

Catch Phrases
Source: http://www.sportscenteraltar.com/phrases/phrases.asp Sports Center Catchphrases

Related topics