The state is not competent in artistic matters... When the state leaves us free, it will have carried out its duty.

Fine art is knowledge made visible.

I have never seen either angels or goddesses, so I am not interested in painting them.

Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it.

Painting is the representation of visible forms. The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal.

The principle of realism means denial of the ideal.

Beauty lies in nature and reveals, once the artist has perceived it, its own expressive power.

To be able to translate the customs, ideas and appearance of my times as I see them - in a word, to create a living art - this has been my aim.

When I am no longer controversial, I will no longer be important

Titles have never given a just idea of things; were it otherwise, the work would be superfluous.

The beautiful is in nature, and it is encountered under the most diverse forms of reality. Once it is found it belongs to art, or rather to the artist who discovers it.

Being a writer means you get to live vicariously through your characters

If architecture had nothing to do with art, it would be astonishingly easy to build houses, but the architect's task - his most difficult task - is always that of selecting.

What's so fascinating about people is what they don't show. People are masters at it; usually actors show too much.

It’s time we framed every question - every issue -- not in terms of what’s in it for ‘me,’ but what’s in it for all of us?

Well, the clothes are really cool that we wear. The sets are so funny, because it's like everything is so real.

A new club is like having a new girlfriend – you don't have feelings straight away

Even if you have a terminal disease, you don't have to sit down and mope. Enjoy life and challenge the illness that you have.

Nevertheless, I tend to get offensive easily.

Vladimir: Did I ever leave you? Estragon: You let me go.

To travel is to shop.