Henri Matisse

"One must always search. God is everywhere. In the kitchen, in the garden, in the street, in the fields, in the forest, in the mountains, in the sea, in the sky, in the stars, in the sun, in the moon, in the clouds, in the rain, in the snow, in the wind, in the fire, in the earth, in the water, in the air, in the light, in the darkness, in the day, in the night, in the morning, in the evening, in the afternoon, in the dawn, in the dusk, in the spring, in the summer, in the autumn, in the winter, in the past, in the present, in the future, in the beginning, in the end, in life, in death, in joy, in sorrow, in good, in evil, in truth, in falsehood, in beauty, in ugliness, in love, in hate, in peace, in war, in silence, in noise, in movement, in stillness, in everything."

"I would like to be a poet. I would like to be a musician. I would like to be a writer. I would like to be a dancer. I would like to be a painter. I would like to be a sculptor. I would like to be a philosopher. I would like to be a scientist. I would like to be a doctor. I would like to be a lawyer. I would like to be a politician. I would like to be a businessman. I would like to be a teacher. I would like to be a priest. I would like to be a king. I would like to be a god. I would like to be everything."

"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter, an art which could be for every mental worker, for the businessman as well as the man of letters, for example, a soothing, calming influence on the mind, something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue."

— from Notes of a Painter, 1908