My aim is to show the visible as possibility in a state of perpetual becoming. (Yaacov Agam)
The role of art for me is the visualization of attitude, of the human attitude towards life, towards the world. (Josef Albers)
Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment. With the majority the bark of thought is allowed to 'drift' upon the ocean of life. (James Allen)
To begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment. (James Allen)
Focus on a specific intention... A goal is often fueled by fear... An intention is fueled by a sense of purpose. (Robert G. Allen)
The object of art is to give life a shape. (Jean Anouilh)
-Nicomachean Ethics, c. 325 BC... For just as for a flute-player, a sculptor, or an artist, and, in general, for all things that have a function or activity, the good and the well is thought to reside in the function, so would it seem to be for man, if he has a function. (Aristotle)
The principle of parsimony is valid esthetically in that the artist must not go beyond what is needed for his purpose. (Rudolf Arnheim)
There has probably never been an artist who painted for his or her eyes alone. (Moncy Barbour)
Unlike the expressionists, I have never been interested in renewing the world through the vehicle of art. (Georg Baselitz)
- artisticactivism.org... Asked what role he believes art plays in society, Baselitz replied, 'The same role as a good shoe, nothing more.' (Georg Baselitz)
Our primordial purpose is to respond to the impulsion from within to solve the mystery of our individual existence, to find and be the authentic Self that is, has been and ever shall be. (Dr. Michael Beckwith)
There are only two reasons we create art: for ourselves and for others. (Brenda Behr)
Art has no other purpose than to brush aside... the conventional and accepted generalities, in short everything that veils reality from us, in order to bring us face to face with reality itself. (Henri Bergson)
You have to understand the purpose of life; the purpose of life is to do something which will live forever. (Yogi Bhajan)
The first principle of ethical power is Purpose... It is the picture you have of yourself - the kind of person you want to be or the kind of life you want to lead. (Kenneth Blanchard)
Painting has to get back to its original goal, examining the inner lives of human beings. (Pierre Bonnard)
The purpose of art is to raise people to a higher level of awareness than they would otherwise attain on their own. (Gyula Halasz, Brassai)
I sit in my garden, gazing upon a beauty that cannot gaze upon itself. And I find sufficient purpose for my day. (Robert Brault)
Allow yourself the peace of purpose and the knowledge that to make another attempt with the brush is a noble thing. If you accept the discipline of the truest principles of art, then yours is the reward of an unbroken line of tradition. (Charles Philip Brooks)
If art takes up much of the artist's time, then it makes sense that she/he be 'lost' in the euphoria of creating. Isn't that one of our ultimate purposes in life? (Harley Brown)
Reading without purpose is sauntering, not exercise. More is got from one book on which the thought settles for a definite end in knowledge, than from libraries skimmed over by a wandering eye. (Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton)
The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. This puts one in accord with nature, in her manner of operation. (John Cage)
My aspirations are to ennoble Photography and to secure for it the character and uses of High Art by combining the Real and Ideal and sacrificing nothing of the Truth by all possible devotion to Poetry and Beauty. (Julia Margaret Cameron)
The purpose of my life had always been to free people from concern. I dubbed it, 'The church of freedom from concern,' or 'FFC.' (Jim Carrey)
The first thing to do in life is to do with purpose what one purposes to do. (Pablo Casals)
I have always wanted my art to service my people - to reflect us, to relate to us, to stimulate us, to make us aware of our potential. We have to create an art for liberation and for life. (Elizabeth Catlett)
I don't think any of us really knows why we're here. But I think we're suppose to believe we're here for a purpose. (Ray Charles)
Will power is but the unflinching purpose to carry the task you set for yourself to fulfillment. (George S. Clason)
The object of art is to crystalize emotion into thought, and then fix it in form. (Francois Delsarte)
The secret of success is constancy to purpose. (Benjamin Disraeli)
When I chased after money, I never had enough. When I got my life on purpose and focused on giving of myself and everything that arrived into my life, then I was prosperous. (Dr. Wayne Dyer)
Art is the perpetual motion of illusion. The highest purpose of art is to inspire. What else can you do? What else can you do for any one but inspire them? (Bob Dylan)
The purpose of art is to stop time. (Bob Dylan)
The defining function of the artist is to cherish consciousness. (Max Eastman)
The role of art is not to express the personality but to overcome it. (T. S. Eliot)
It is important to have something to do that has no purpose. (Sister Agatha Fitzgerald)
When you see what you're here for, the world begins to mirror your purpose in a magical way. It's almost as if you suddenly find yourself on a stage in a play that was written expressly for you. (Betty Sue Flowers)
The task of the artist is to make the human being uncomfortable. (Lucian Freud)
Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality. (Erich Fromm)
Find purpose, the means will follow. (Mahatma Gandhi)
The aim behind critical art is to improve life, by pointing out that which is in need of repair or renovation. By the same criteria, landscape and other 'beautiful' art is legitimate, as it also comes to improve the world... by elevating the spirits of those who behold it. (Ron Gang)
-in 1861... The arts teach and moralise by their beauty alone, not by translating a philosophical or social formula. For the truly artistic person, painting has itself as it's purpose, which is quite enough. (Theophile Gautier)
We are trying to evoke and reinforce meanings from the spaces we cover and the times we're given. Short or long this becomes our purpose. What we artists do is important stuff. (Robert Genn)
The purpose of art is the gradual lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity. (Glenn Gould)
I paint to rest from the phenomena of the external world – to pronounce it – and to make notations of its essences with which to verify the inner eye. (Morris Graves)
You won't form the habit... unless right at the start you link it with a definite purpose that can be accomplished by keeping it. (Albert Gray)
Science and art, or by the same token, poetry and prose differ from one another like a journey and an excursion. The purpose of the journey is its goal, the purpose of an excursion is the process. (Franz Grillparzer)
An artist's job is to say the most with the least. (Andrew Hamilton)
The best reason to paint is that there is no reason to paint... (Keith Haring)
I paint for the sole purpose of magnifying the privilege of being alive. (Robert Henri)
Strong lives are motivated by dynamic purposes. (Kenneth Hildebrand)
Fortunate is the person who has developed the self-control to steer a straight course toward his objective in life, without being swayed from his purpose by either commendation or condemnation. (Napoleon Hill)
My aim in painting is to create pulsating, luminous, and open surfaces that emanate a mystic light, in accordance with my deepest insight into the experience of life and nature. (Hans Hofmann)
My paintings are not intended to alter the history of twentieth-century art or change the political climate of our times. I'm simply a story-teller. (Carolyn Hoyle)
I believe in the writer's mission. He receives it from the word, which carries its suffering and its hope within it. He questions the words, which question him. He accompanies the words, which accompany him. The initiative is shared, as if spontaneous. (Edmond Jabes)
The sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. (Carl Gustav Jung)
The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purpose within him. (Carl Gustav Jung)
Man's task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious. (Carl Gustav Jung)
Only just now awakening after years of materialism, our soul is still infected with the despair born of unbelief, of lack of purpose and aim. (Wassily Kandinsky)
It's the role of the artist to pursue content. (Anish Kapoor)
We live in a fractured world. I've always seen it as my role as an artist to attempt to make wholeness. (Anish Kapoor)
Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. (Helen Keller)
Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. (John F. Kennedy)
What is the spiritual purpose of the arts? It is to learn structure. Once an artist creates a true structure, then divine love can pour into it and make it a living thing of beauty. (Harold Klemp)
One of the greatest moments of Mother's life came when she found that I, a mere baby, was never so content as with pencil and paper; even before I could speak or walk, I drew. There was no question of my purpose in life. (Dame Laura Knight)
Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. (Elisabeth Kubler-Ross)
My art has nothing to do with servicing collectors, it's for living, for turning on with. (David Lee)
If I didn't have my camera to remind me constantly, I am here to do this, I would eventually have slipped away, I think. I would have forgotten my reason to exist. (Annie Leibovitz)
Almost anything that can be praised or advocated has been put to some disgusting use. There is no principle, however immaculate, that has not had its compromising manipulator. (Wyndham Lewis)
Having chosen our course, without guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear and with manly hearts. (Abraham Lincoln)
Only the consciousness of a purpose that is mightier than any man and worthy of all men can fortify and inspirit and compose the souls of men. (Walter Lippmann)
I don't think life is absurd. I think we are all here for a huge purpose. I think we shrink from the immensity of the purpose we are here for. (Norman Mailer)
We are built to conquer environment, solve problems, achieve goals, and we find no real satisfaction or happiness in life without obstacles to conquer and goals to achieve. (Maxwell Maltz)
The painter's function, generally speaking, is to explore and demonstrate in his work the interdependency of forms. (Robert McBryde)
Art is an articulator of the soul's uncensored purpose and deepest will. (Shaun McNiff)
While goals are chosen, a purpose is discovered. Our purpose is something we have been doing all along, and will continue to do, regardless of circumstances, until the day we die. (Peter McWilliams)
The purpose of life is to remember. (Henry Miller)
The artist has a special task: that of reminding men of their humanity and the promise of their creativity. (Lewis Mumford)
The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else. (Martina Navratilova)
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. (Friedrich Nietzsche)
It's so hard to retain what your purpose is – or to even realize what it is. (Sinead O'Connor)
When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be. (Patanjali)
The purpose of art is nothing less than the upliftment of the human spirit. (Pope John Paul II)
I go for a walk in the forest of Fontainebleau. I get 'green' indigestion. I must get rid of this sensation into a picture. Green rules it. A painter paints to unload himself of feelings and visions. (Pablo Picasso)
The purpose of art is delectation. (Nicolas Poussin)
Too often we pat the canvas without purpose while we think about what to do next. It is much better to think first and then paint with purpose. (Chuck Rawle)
The fundamental purpose of the artist is the same as that of a scientist: to state a fact. (Herbert Read)
Knowing our personal mission further enhances the flow of mysterious coincidences as we are guided toward our destinies. (James Redfield)
I think it's pretentious to create art just for the sake of stroking the artist's ego. (Lou Reed)
The great end of all arts is to make an impression on the imagination and the feeling. The imitation of nature frequently does this. Sometimes it fails and something else succeeds. (Sir Joshua Reynolds)
It is the function of the artist to call attention to what life does not. (Tom Robbins)
Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed. My fundamental purpose is to interpret the typical American. I am a story teller. (Norman Rockwell)
Every superhero has a mission. (Dr. Robin Rosenberg)
The purpose of life is not to be happy but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make a difference that you lived at all. (Leo Rosten)
The purpose of art is... to press forward into the whole of the external world and the soul, to see and communicate those objective realities within it which rule and convention have hitherto concealed. (Max Scheler)
Utility is the great idol of the age, to which all powers must do service and all talents swear allegiance. In this great balance of utility, the spiritual service of art has no weight, and, deprived of all encouragement, it vanishes from the noisy Vanity Fair of our time. (Johann Friedrich von Schiller)
One of the functions of art is to offer a more desirable reality - a model, as it were, of another style of existence with its own pace and its own cultural reference. (Peter Schmidt)
Through the pursuit of beauty we shape the world as a home, and in doing so we both amplify our joys and find consolation for our sorrows. (Roger Scruton)
I know that if there's a purpose for life, it was for me to hear Mozart. Or if I walk in the woods and I see an animal, the purpose of my life was to see that animal. I can recollect it, I can notice it. I'm here to take note of. And that is beyond my ego, beyond anything that belongs to me, an observer, an observer. (Maurice Sendak)
It is the mission of art to remind man from time to time that he is human, and the time is ripe, just now, today, for such a reminder. (Ben Shahn)
Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
God's children and their happiness are my reasons for being. (Red Skelton)
You were aimed from birth: you will never be alone... The whole wide world pours down. (William Stafford)
The artist has still an important task in depicting a landscape and rendering it for us with his much more sensitive eye which can concentrate on essentials and give the atmosphere of a city much better than a mechanical camera could ever do. (Max Stern)
I affirm my profound concern to achieve a purpose beyond vanity, ambition, or remembrance. (Clyfford Still)
Just as the farmer provides sustenance for the body, the painter provides sustenance for the soul. (Arturo Tello)
My purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset and the baths of all the Western stars until I die. (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
It is not enough to be industrious, so are the ants. What are you industrious about? (Henry David Thoreau)
I devoted myself simply to being a solitary person entrusted with a specific task. (Jacobo Timerman)
To me, art and storytelling serve primal, spiritual functions in my daily life. Whether I'm telling a bedtime story to my kids or trying to mount a movie or write a short story or a novel, I take it very seriously. (Guillermo del Toro)
The establishment of a clear, central purpose or goal in life is the starting point of all success. (Brian Tracy)
My job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. (Mark Twain)
Great minds have purposes; little minds have wishes. (Author unknown)
The purpose of art is to open a door to other dimensions. (Author unknown)
We don't dance to get to the end of the dance; we don't sing to get to the end of the song. (Author unknown)
May your work be in keeping with your purpose and design. (Leonardo da Vinci)
When I make my work, I am making what I hope to be something functional – a space for individual contemplation and reflection. I want my art to be useful. (Bill Viola)
The task of an artist is to breathe an emotional charge onto the canvas so it may be perceived and experienced by the spectator. (Konstantin Voinov)
Winners are people with definite purpose in life. (Denis Waitley)
You can come to understand your purpose in life by slowing down and feeling your heart's desires. (Marcia Wieder)
To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. (Oscar Wilde)
A purpose is the eternal condition of success. (Thornton Wilder)
Without intent all painting is meaningless. (Christopher Willard)
People need a sacred narrative. They must have a sense of larger purpose, in one form or another, however intellectualized... (Edward O. Wilson)
You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand. (Woodrow Wilson)
I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves. (Ludwig Wittgenstein)
My aim is not to exhibit craft, but rather to submerge it, and make it rightfully the handmaiden of beauty, power and emotional content. (Andrew Wyeth)
One of art's important functions – the function that many would consider the most important – is to entertain and divert us, to make us laugh, give us comfort, lift our spirits. (Max Wyman)
The purpose of life is the expansion of happiness. (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi)
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