“A little artist has all the tragic unhappiness and the sorrows of a great artist and he is not a great artist.”

Source: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A little artist has all the tragic unhappiness and the sorrows of a great artist and he is not a great artist." by Gertrude Stein?
Gertrude Stein photo
Gertrude Stein 160
American art collector and experimental writer of novels, p… 1874–1946

Related quotes

Franz Liszt photo

“Sorrowful and great is the artist's destiny.”

Franz Liszt (1811–1886) Hungarian romantic composer and virtuoso pianist

As quoted in Joseph Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music: An Introduction to Perceptive Listening (1963) Page 107.

Oscar Wilde photo
Frances Bean Cobain photo

“There is, with any great artist, a little manic-ness and insanity.”

Frances Bean Cobain (1992) American artist

" Frances Bean Cobain on Life After Kurt's Death: An Exclusive Q&A http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/frances-bean-life-after-kurt-cobain-death-exclusive-interview-20150408" (2015)

Steve Jobs photo

“Good artists copy; great artists steal.”

Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple Inc.

This is a favorite phrase of Jobs, but he is (mis)quoting Pablo Picasso. "Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal" is similarly attributed to Igor Stravinsky, but both sayings may well originate in T. S. Eliot's dictum http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Sacred_Wood/Philip_Massinger: "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn."
Misattributed

Pablo Picasso photo

“Good artists copy, great artists steal.”

Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer

Compare: "Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal." T. S. Eliot, in Philip Massinger, in The Sacred Wood (1920)
Disputed

Brad Bird photo

“Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.”

Brad Bird (1957) American director, screenwriter, animator, producer and occasional voice actor

"Anton Ego" in Ratatouille (2007)
Context: In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talents, new creations. The new needs friends. Last night, I experienced something new; an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking, is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto, "Anyone can cook". But I realize — only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more.

Rick Riordan photo

“The great artist takes what he needs.”

Kenneth Clark (1903–1983) Art historian, broadcaster and museum director

Source: Civilisation (1969), Ch. 5: The Hero as Artist

Auguste Rodin photo

“Now to the great artist, everything in nature has character.”

Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) French sculptor

Rodin on realism, 1910

Ezra Pound photo

“Artists are the antennae of the race but the bullet-headed many will never learn to trust their great artists.”

Ezra Pound (1885–1972) American Imagist poet and critic

Instigations of Ezra Pound (1920), p. 109

Related topics