Vincent van Gogh

The world is ugly, but it is beautiful too.

I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say 'he feels deeply, passionately.'

Happiness is not an ideal of reason but of imagination.

I don't listen to my own voice; I listen to the voice of the muse.

Life is a journey, and painting is my map.

The artist is the hand that plays, just as the musician is the hand that plays the instrument.

I am a man of passions, and my work reflects that.

To suffer without complaint is the only lesson to be learned from those who are truly great.

The night is a more profound stillness.

I paint to forget the pain.

Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures.

My brush is my sword, and the canvas my battlefield.

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

I am not an artist; I am a soul who paints.

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

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining on shore.

I want to paint humanity, humanity, and again humanity.

Just as we take the good things for granted, we likewise take the bad things for granted.

I have a terrible need for — dare I say the word — religion. So I go outside at night to paint the stars.

I wish you were here, Theo, to see the sunflowers.