James Whistler Quotes


"You shouldn't say it is not good. You should say, you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe."
- James Whistler
"Work alone will efface the footsteps of work."
- James Whistler
(Related: Work, Footsteps, Will)

"To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player that he may sit on the piano."
- James Whistler
(Related: Nature, May)

"An artist's career always begins tomorrow."
- James Whistler
(Related: Artist, Career, Tomorrow)

"The vast majority of English folk cannot and will not consider a picture as a picture, apart from any story which it may be supposed to tell."
- James Whistler
(Related: English, Folk, Majority, May, Will)

"If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes impossible."
- James Whistler
(Related: People, Conversation, Talk)

"I maintain that two and two would continue to make four, in spite of the whine of the amateur for three, or the cry of the critic for five."
- James Whistler
"I am not arguing with you - I am telling you."
- James Whistler
"I can't tell you if genius is hereditary, because heaven has granted me no offspring."
- James Whistler
(Related: Genius, Heaven)

"An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision."
- James Whistler
(Related: Vision, Artist, Labor)

"It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait."
- James Whistler
(Related: Time, Man)