Albrecht Dürer

Visual Arts German 1471 – 1528 386 quotes

Greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance

Most quoted

"A good painter is inwardly full of figures, and if it were possible that he live forever, he would always have from his internal ideas, of which Plato writes, something new to pour out in his works."

— from Writings

"For a good painter is inwardly full of figures, and if it were possible that he live forever, he would always have from his internal ideas something new to pour out in his works."

— from Four Books on Human Proportion, 1528

"The more I travel, the more I realize that people are the same everywhere, they just wear different clothes and speak different languages, but they all want a good portrait."

— from Letters and Diaries

All quotes by Albrecht Dürer (386)

Oh, how I shall freeze after this sun! Here I am a gentleman, at home a parasite.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have many good friends among the Italians who warn me not to eat or drink anything with them, for they are very treacherous.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have silenced the painters who said I was no good at color. Now everyone says that my colors are beautiful.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

How I long for the sun! Here I am a gentleman, at home a parasite.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

The more I see, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I know. The more I know, the more I realize I know nothing.

Diary entry

I have been much praised, but I have also been much envied.

Diary entry

Truly, art is embedded in nature; he who can extract it, has it.

Treatise on Measurement

A good painter is full of inner forms, and if he had to live for a thousand years, he would always find something new to do.

Treatise on Measurement

The artist is not a machine, but a man, and he must have his freedom.

Treatise on Measurement

I have been in Venice, and have seen many beautiful things, and have learned much.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have painted a picture for the Doge, and he has paid me well.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have also made many drawings, and have sold them well.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have also been to Bologna, and have seen many beautiful things there.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have also been to Florence, and have seen many beautiful things there.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have also been to Rome, and have seen many beautiful things there.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have also been to Naples, and have seen many beautiful things there.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have also been to Milan, and have seen many beautiful things there.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have also been to Genoa, and have seen many beautiful things there.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have also been to Augsburg, and have seen many beautiful things there.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506

I have also been to Nuremberg, and have seen many beautiful things there.

Letter to Willibald Pirckheimer 1506