Gutzon Borglum

My greatest satisfaction comes from seeing my work inspire others.

The mountains speak to me in a language I understand.

I am a firm believer in the power of the individual to make a difference.

The artist must be a visionary, seeing beyond the present.

My hands are my instruments, but my mind is my guide.

The scale of Mount Rushmore is a testament to the American spirit.

I have always sought to create art that is both beautiful and meaningful.

The greatest challenge is to bring life to stone.

My work is a tribute to the men who built this nation.

I am not just carving faces; I am carving history.

A monument's dimensions should be determined by the importance of the event commemorated and the importance of the man.

I want to hit the truth as hard as I can.

The American people are slow to wrath, but when their wrath is once aroused, it endorses my proposition: nothing can stand in its way.

Art is the effort of man to express the ideas which elevate him to the divine.

In sculpture, the first thing is to feel the form in space.

Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.

The soul of a landscape, the spirit of the mountain, can only be reached through the chisel.

Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people— but only if we carve it in stone.

Life is short, but the mountains are eternal; let's make them speak.

Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.