John Olsen famous quotes

Painting is a means of self-enlightenment.
-- John Olsen

#Art #Mean #Self

I think a single sentence by Van Gogh is better than the whole work of all the art critics and art historians put together.
-- John Olsen

#Art #Thinking #Together

What joy there is in hearing yourself think, and to make that thinking into ink.
-- John Olsen

#Thinking #Joy #Ink

The most important thing that everyone should bring to the dining experience is a certain generosity of spirit. Just remember that there are two kinds of people: lovers and others. And you know what you can do with the others.
-- John Olsen

#Two #People #Generosity

Art is not so much talent as character… it's what you are, the qualities of the person.
-- John Olsen

#Art #Character #Quality

The important thing about Paris is not so much that one sees exciting work, but one meets people who feel that art is worth living completely for. This whole atmosphere is very good for work.
-- John Olsen

#Art #Paris #People

Really good mountain bikers are lousy judges of trail difficulty.  We haven't a clue, we just ride.
-- John Olsen

#Judging #Mountain #Bikers

Teachers believe they have a gift for giving; it drives them with the same irrepressible drive that drives others to create a work of art or a market or a building.

Art does not exist for politics, or for instruction- it exists primarily for pleasure, or it is nothing.

Design should do the same thing in everyday life that art does when encountered: amaze us, scare us or delight us, but certainly open us to new worlds within our daily existence.

How aware were photographers in the past of other visual arts? "No photographer of any distinction at all could approach his work without some awareness of what was going on in other visual media, and for that matter neither the painter nor the draughtsman could ignore photography."

A country scratching a lazy irritation at sagging doorjambs and late trains, whose greatest attribute is a collective, smelly tolerance, where a chap will put up with almost everything, which means he won't care about anything enough to get out of a chair.A country of public insouciance and private, grubby guilt, where you can believe anything as long as you don't believe it too fervently. A country where the highest aspiration is for a quiet life.

Just because an animal is large, it doesn't mean he doesn't want kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants as much kindness as Roo.

Our fans want us to be happy and if that means being married or having a girlfriend, they are okay with that. Of course, in this industry it is a bit harder to have normal relationships, but it is possible.

I am grateful for - though I can't keep up with - the flood of articles, theses, and textbooks that mean to share insight concerning the nature of poetry.

One bright and thankful look at the cross is worth a thousand morbid, self-condemning reflections.

When I make a photograph I want it to be an altogether new object, complete and self-contained, whose basic condition is order (unlike the world of events and actions whose permanent condition is change and disorder).