Quotes from Vincent Van Gogh

I want to get to the point where people say of my work, that man feels deeply.

There are colors which cause each other to shine brilliantly, which form a couple which complete each other like man and woman.

I want to paint men and women with that something of the external which the halo used to symbolize, and which we now seek to give by the actual radiance and vibrancy of our colorings.

If I succeed in putting some warmth and love into the work, then it will find friends. Carrying on working is the

But for one's health as you say, it is very necessary to work in the garden and see the flowers growing.

I work as diligently on my canvases as the laborers do in their fields.

In general, and most especially with artists, I pay as much attention to the man who does the work, as to the work itself.

My opinion is that the best thing would be to work on till art lovers feel drawn toward it of their own accord, instead of having to praise or to explain it.

Ideas for work are coming to me in abundance...I'm going like a painting-locomotive.

Often whole days pass without my speaking to anyone.

Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.

How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?

The victory one would gain after a whole life of work and effort is better than one that is gained sooner.

And love makes one calmer about many things, and in that way, one is more fit for one's work.

I've never felt a desire (and I don't believe I ever shall) to bring the public to my work... a certain popularity seems to me the least desirable of things.

What am I in most people's eyes? A nonentity or an eccentric and disagreeable man... I should want my work to show what is in the heart of such an eccentric, of such a nobody.

Whatever plan one makes, there is a hidden difficulty somewhere.

As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward.

The only time I feel alive is when I'm painting.

As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see.

It's as interesting and as difficult to say a thing well as to paint it. There is the art of lines and colours, but the art of words exists too, and will never be less important.

I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say "he feels deeply, he feels tenderly".

A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.

I am not an adventurer by choice but by fate.