“Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.”
Quoted in Artists on Art: From the XIV to the XX Century, ed. Robert Goldwater (Pantheon, 1945)
quotes, undated
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Edgar Degas 67
French artist 1834–1917Related quotes
Quote from 'Max Ernst', exhibition catalogue, Galerie Stangl, Munich, 1967, U.S., pp.6-7, as cited in Edward Quinn, Max Ernst. 1984, Poligrafa, Barcelona. p. 12
1951 - 1976
“When a person knows and can't
make the others understand, what does he do?”
Source: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Book 2, Chapter 7 “A Mechanical Man” (p. 397)
The Steel Tsar (1981)
Source: Farnham's Freehold (1964), Chapter 7 (p. 115)
Source: What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire
1880s, 1880, Letter to Theo (Cuesmes, July 1880)
Context: There is a great difference between one idler and another idler. There is someone who is an idler out of laziness and lack of character, owing to the baseness of his nature. If you like, you may take me for one of those. Then there is the other kind of idler, the idler despite himself, who is inwardly consumed by a great longing for action who does nothing because his hands are tied, because he is, so to speak, imprisoned somewhere, because he lacks what he needs to be productive, because disastrous circumstances have brought him forcibly to this end. Such a one does not always know what he can do, but he nevertheless instinctively feels, I am good for something! My existence is not without reason! I know that I could be a quite a different person! How can I be of use, how can I be of service? There is something inside me, but what can it be? He is quite another idler. If you like you may take me for one of those.
“A warrior acts as if he knows what he is doing, when in effect he knows nothing.”
Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from "Journey to Ixtlan" (Chapter 8)