" To act well in this world, one must die within oneself.Man is not on this earth only to be happy, he is not there to be simply honest, he is there to realize great things for humanity,to attain nobility and to surpass the vulgarity in which the existence of almost all individuals drags on."-Renan
"Rembrandt only liked to paint ugly old women, didn't he?"
"No" replied Vincent."He painted beautiful old women, women who were poor or in some way unhappy, but who through sorrow has gained a soul."
"Whether he painted well or badly didn't matter; painting was the stuff that held him together as a man. The chief value of art, Vincent, lies in the expression it gives to the artist. Rembrandt fulfilled what he knew was to be his life purpose; that justified him. Even if his work had been worthless, he would have been a thousand times more successful than if he had put down his desire and become the richest merchant in Amsterdam"
"You can never be sure about anything for all time, Vincent. You can only have the courage and strength to do what you think is right. It may turn out to be wrong, but you will at least have done it, and that is the important thing. "
"I never wanted a big church and preach polished sermons. I belong with the humble and suffering..."
"If I don't study, if I don't go on seeking any longer, then I am lost"
"...my only anxiety is, how can I be of use in the world? Cannot I serve some purpose and be of some good?"
"Our inward thoughts, do they ever show outwardly? There may be a great fire in our soul andno one comes to warm himself by it..."
"But what if he has a happy life turning out bad art? What then?
"...The women at a tea party have no character...they've all had such easy lives that they haven't anything interesting carved into their faces..."
"I'll take my life of reality and hardship. That is not the road on which one perishes."
"Do you call yourself an artist? How absurd. You never sold a picture in your life"
"Is that what being an artist means--selling? I thought it meant one who was always seeking without absolutely finding. I thought it means the contrary from 'I know it, I have found it' When I say I am an artist, I only mean 'I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.'"
"Vincent was always in the state of becoming, never in the state of having arrived"
"But it's easy to love...it's only being loved in return that is difficult."
"The ordinary human brain thinks in terms of duality; light and shade, sweet and sour, good and evil. That duality does not exist in nature. There is neither good nor evil in the world, but only being and doing. When we describe an action, we describe life; when we call that action names--life depravity or obscenity--we go into the realm of subjective prejudice"
"Morality is like religion, a soporific to close people's eyes to the tawdriness of their life"
"We think all truth is beautiful, no matter how hideous its face may seem.We accept all of nature, without any repudiation.We believe there is more beauty in a harsh truth than in a pretty lie, more poetry in earthiness than in all the salons of Paris.We think pain good, because it is the most profound of all human feelings. We think sex beautiful, even when portrayed by a harlot and a pimp. We accept life in its entirety, without making judgments. We think the prostitute as good as the countess, the concierge as good as the general, the peasant as good as the cabinet minister,for they all fit into the pattern of nature, and are woven into the design of life"
"When you begin to feel the universal rhythm in which everything on earth moves, you begin to understand life. That alone is God."
Vincent's last word "La tristesse durera toujours" (the sadness will last forever)
Dammit, looks like I have to go out and buy the book now! This one is a keeper!
Ref:
Vincent Van Gogh
Lust For Life
Ernest Renan
Rembrandt
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