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14 quotes by James Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler /ˈdʒeɪmz ˈæbət məkˈniːl ˈwɪslɚ/ (July 11, 1834 – July 17, 1903) was an American-born, British-based artist active during the American Gilded Age. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger for a tail. The symbol was apt, for it...
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An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.

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I am not arguing with you - I am telling you.

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If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes impossible.

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I can't tell you if genius is hereditary, because heaven has granted me no offspring.

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The rare few, who, early in life have rid themselves of the friendship of the many.

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It takes a long time for a man to look like his portrait.

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To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it shows great and earnest labour, is to say that it is incomplete and unfit for view.

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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.

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Work alone will efface the footsteps of work.

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An artist's career always begins tomorrow.

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You shouldn't say it is not good. You should say, you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe.

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You should not say it is not good. You should say you do not like it; and then, you know, you're perfectly safe.

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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.

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