Famous Quotes & Sayings

Arthur Conan Doyle

I said that he was my superior in observation and deduction. If the art of the detective began and ended in reasoning from an armchair, my brother would be the greatest criminal agent that ever lived. But he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right.

Arthur Conan Doyle

On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic.

Arthur Balfour

He [A. J. Balfour] was eminently one of the Cole Porter school of famous men, who only fell to rise again. Picking himself up and brushing himself down became a minor art form, ruefully admired by his contemporaries.

Arthur C. Clarke

There's a passage about 'rivers of molten rock that wound their way... until they cooled and lay like twisted dragon-shapes vomited from the tormented earth.' That's a perfect description: how did Tolkien know, a quarter century before anyone ever saw a picture of Io? Talk about Nature imitating Art.

Arthur C. Clarke

Now, before you make a movie, you have to have a script, and before you have a script, you have to have a story; though some avant-garde directors have tried to dispense with the latter item, you'll find their work only at art theaters.

Arthur C. Clarke

Few artists thrive in solitude and nothing is more stimulating than the conflict of minds with similar interests.

Arthur C. Clarke

The moment when one first meets a great work of art has an impact that can never again be recaptured.

Anton Chekhov

The wealthy are always surrounded by hangers-on; science and art are as well.

Anton Chekhov

An artist must pass judgment only on what he understands; his range is limited as that of any other specialist... Anyone who says that the artist's field is all answers and no questions has neither.

Anton Chekhov

Wherever there is degeneration and apathy, there also is sexual perversion, cold depravity, miscarriage, premature old age, grumbling youth, there is a decline in the arts, indifference to science, and injustice in all its forms.

Anton Chekhov

You are right in demanding that an artist approach his work consciously, but you are confusing two concepts: the solution of a problem and the correct formulation of a problem. Only the second is required of the artist.

Anton Chekhov

You are right to demand that an artist engage his work consciously, but you confuse two different things: solving the problem and correctly posing the question.

Anton Chekhov

An artist's flair is sometimes worth a scientist's brains.

Anton Chekhov

An artist observes, selects, guesses, and synthesizes.

Anton Chekhov

You confuse two things: solving a problem and stating a problem correctly. It is only the second that is obligatory for an artist.

Anton Chekhov

This man, who for twenty-five years has been reading and writing about art, and in all that time has never understood anything about art, has for twenty-five years been hashing over other people's ideas about realism, naturalism and all that nonsense; for twenty-five years he has been reading and writing about what intelligent people already know and about what stupid people don't want to know--which means that for twenty-five years he's been taking nothing and making nothing out of it. And with it all, what conceit! What pretension!

Anton Chekhov

There is nothing new in art except talent.

Anton Chekhov

If you want to work on your art, work on your life.

Anton Chekhov

A woman is fascinated not by art but by the noise made by those in the field.

Anton Chekhov

The role of the artist is to ask questions, not answer them.

Anton Chekhov

Cross out as many adjectives and adverbs as you can. ... It is comprehensible when I write: "The man sat on the grass," because it is clear and does not detain one's attention. On the other hand, it is difficult to figure out and hard on the brain if I write: "The tall, narrow-chested man of medium height and with a red beard sat down on the green grass that had already been trampled down by the pedestrians, sat down silently, looking around timidly and fearfully." The brain can't grasp all that at once, and art must be grasped at once, instantaneously.

Bela Lugosi

I studied at the Budapest Academy of Theatrical Arts for four years and emerged with a degree.

bell hooks

Yesterday I was thinking about the whole idea of genius and creative people, and the notion that if you create some magical art, somehow that exempts you from having to pay attention to the small things.

bell hooks

there is no politically neutral art.

bell hooks

Some people act as though art that is for a mass audience is not good art, and I think this has been a very negative thing. I know that I have wanted very much to write books that are accessible to the widest audience possible.

bell hooks

I feel that my environment reflects my belief in the grace and art and elegance of living simply.

bell hooks

Contrary to what some folks would have us believe, it is not tragic, even if undesirable, for a person to leave a liberal arts education not having read major works from this canon. Their lives are not ending. And the exciting dimension of knowledge is that we can learn a work without formally studying it. If a student graduates without reading Shakespeare and then reads or studies this work later, it does not delegitimize whatever formal course of study that was completed.

bell hooks

The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is-it’s to imagine what is possible.

Barry White

Blacks own so little of the music business, it's pathetic. But I see that changing soon. Black artists, black businessmen and women will unite.

Balthus

I refuse to confide and don't like it when people write about art.

Balthus

Painting is a source of endless pleasure, but also of great anguish.

Balthus

I always feel the desire to look for the extraordinary in ordinary things; to suggest, not to impose, to leave always a slight touch of mystery in my paintings.

Bar Refaeli

My make-up artist, she uses bronzer on the eyelids too. And also a little bit on the forehead to make everything look even.