Art News

Some Positive Quotations

Mine and Others...

From the book Success Now! For Artists By Renée Phillips

Renée Phillips is the Director of Manhattan Arts International, an author of several books and is known as "The Artrepreneur Coach". She provides empowering life and career strategies for creative individuals.

Just because... sometimes we just need a little boost, an inspiring quote, a reminder of what we already know to be true about our inner strengths, about art, artists and creativity.

So here are some of my favorites... from my ebook Success Now! For Artists. I hope you enjoy them.


"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." ~ Helen Keller

"Embrace those big dreams that seem elusive and integrate them into your daily habits to make them tangible. What action could you take right Now! that would set your dream in motion? Create your master plan and plan your destiny!" ~ Renee Phillips

"Great minds have purposes; others simply have wishes."
~ Washington Irving



"Develop a thirst for getting out of your comfort zone. Begin by taking one chance each day. Make the phone call, arrange the appointment, throw the paint onto the canvas, break the mold!"
~ Renee Phillips

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
~ Marcel Proust

"Success should not be measured by external events – when you sell your first work, or have your first one-person show, or get a positive review by a critic, or when your work is collected by a museum. It should be a constant flame that glows steadily and triumphantly within you – originating from the knowledge that you create your destiny. You don’t need anyone – a dealer, an agent, an art critic or patron – to give you validation or approval. Success is yours NOW! "
~ Renee Phillips

"If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him… We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth."
~ John F. Kennedy

"Develop your own signature style. Embrace the subjects, colors, textures, ideas, experiences, shapes and events that resonate most strongly to you. Follow your muse, bring your inspiration to fruition and take that to the bank with pride!"
~ Renee Phillips

“ A (wo)man is a success if (s)he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what (s)he wants to do.”
~ Bob Dylan




"Things do not change; we change."
~ Henry David Thoreau

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about."
~ Charles Kingsley

"As an artist you must master your craft and then transcend it: Stop thinking about what others have taught you. Let go of your crutches and fly solo. When you let your unique voice soar you lift the world with you."
~ Renee Phillips

"The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments."
~ Gustave Flaubert

"He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still."
~ Lao Tsu

"The artist’s impact on the economy is immeasurable. The professionals that dependent upon them include art dealers, framers, supply manufacturers, photographers, critics, auctioneers, museum curators and publishers. The artist’s impact on civilization is major.

If it were not for the artist we would suffer from stagnation, despair and chaos. Without art we would become dehumanized."
~ Renee Phillips




Follow your creative passion. "Let the beauty of what you love be what you do."
~ Rumi

"Generally speaking, color directly influences the soul. Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another purposively, to cause vibrations in the soul."
~ Vasily Kandinsky

"I paint my own reality. I paint because I need to, and I paint always whatever passes through my head, without any other consideration."
~ Frida Kahlo

"Each day is an opportunity to celebrate the gifts that have been bestowed upon you. You have an acute sensitivity to a myriad of stimuli. You have the power to create something that, before you imagined it, did not exist. With a blank canvas or sheet of paper, a slab of clay, hunk of stone, camera lens, found objects or computer technology, you are capable of bringing inner visions to outer forms.

You possess a unique power to elicit a response, alter a person’s consciousness and have a major impact on those who see your work and change the course of art history!"
~ Renee Phillips

"You owe it to yourself and to others with every breath you take to use your innate talent to its greatest potential, to claim your voice and to tell your story, to share your gifts and to enrich and deepen our understanding of the human condition."
~ Renee Phillips

"To become truly immortal a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere. Once these barriers are broken it will enter the regions of childhood vision and dream."
~ Giorgio de Chirico

"Your art is a reflection of how you respond to life – your emotions, your experiences, your values, beliefs and choices – the sum of what makes you unique. Let it shine. Let it rejoice. Let it reverberate throughout the world. Let it shock. Let it rock. Let it console. Let it cajole. Let it break all the rules. Let it claim new frontiers. Let it flood the universe. Let it make a ruckus. Let it fill the air with song. Let it be."
~ Renee Phillips

Read more articles by Renée Phillips.

Visit Renee's blog.

Learn more about Success Now! For Artists.