Variant: I would like to paint the way a bird sings.
Source: Monet By Himself
“I sing as the bird sings
That lives in the boughs.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German writer, artist, and politician
Ich singe, wie der Vogel singt
Der in den Zweigen wohnet.
Bk. II, Ch. 11
Wilhelm Meister's Lehrjahre (Apprenticeship) (1786–1830)
“Without moving anything / I want to see / the way this autumn / makes the birds move.”
Mirkka Rekola (1931–2014) Finnish writer
From Syksy muuttaa linnut (Autumn Moves the Birds, 1961. 88 Poems, WSOY, 2000, ISBN 951-0-24783-9. Translated by Anselm Hollo).
“A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song”
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet
Although it appears on U.S. postage featuring Angelou, this is actually a variant quote from the work of poet Joan Walsh Anglund. <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Source: Postal Service releases Maya Angelou stamp with quote from another author, Josh Hicks, 7 April 2015, Washington Post, 9 April 2015 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/04/07/postal-serves-releases-maya-angelou-stamp-with-quote-from-another-author/,
“Aesthetics is for painting as Ornithology is for the birds.”
Barnett Newman (1905–1970) American artist
Quote of Newman (1952), as cited in: C. Greig Crysler, Stephen Cairns, Hilde Heynen (2012). The SAGE Handbook of Architectural Theory. p. 123
1950 - 1960
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) Dutch 17th century painter and etcher
As quoted in R.v.R. : Being an Account of the Last Years and the Death of One Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn (1930) by Hendrik Willem van Loon
undated quotes
“I think my great book is Born to Sing: An Interpretation and World Survey of Bird Song.”
Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000) Philosopher
In Herbert F. Vetter, " Not The Average Philosopher http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/hartshorne.html", Harvard Magazine, May/June 1997, Volume 99, Number 5. Vetter was surprised by this, given Hartshorne's dozens of substantial books on theology.
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
Interview http://www.interferenza.com/bcs/interw/84-jul30.htm with Bert Kleinman (30 July 1984). Cf. C. S. Lewis: "People won't write the books I want, so I have to do it for myself."
