Jorge Luis Borges Quotes

To sit for one's portrait is like being present at one's own creation.

Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.

Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.

I don't like the idea of spirituality done the way it's done. The only way I could understand it was through creativity, not by going to an Ashram, or finding a guru or joining a temple. I made work out of it.

A drawing is an autobiographical record of one's discovery of an event - either seen, remembered or imagined. A 'finished' work is an attempt to construct an event in itself.

In each of my characters there is a little of me. Not strictly autobiographical but a little piece of my soul.

Art is the window to man's soul. Without it, he would never be able to see beyond his immediate world; nor could the world see the man within.

Art is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature, placed alongside thereof for its conquest.

Art is the objectification of feeling, and the subjectification of nature.

The business of writing a novel is a long, meandering road into the self, into the imagination. And it's a road the writer travels alone.

I know my lyrics might be weird to some, but they're not like that to me because I know where they come from - I know the secret.

Many artists, when they are creating art, are searching for a vehicle that can manifest a feeling they have inside of themselves.

If we talk about art in general... all the works of art, each one of them could reflect a moment in the history of mankind, the time in which it was created.

I paint as a way of looking for myself in the world.

Ultimately, I don't think you can be a character who's completely alien or divorced from your own personality. It's probably true of every writer - it's probably true of every filmmaker, every songwriter - that, ultimately, every character you create is a facet of yourself.

I have never painted a self-portrait. I am less interested in myself as a subject for a painting than I am in other people, above all women... There is nothing special about me. I am a painter who paints day after day from morning to night... Who ever wants to know something about me... ought to look carefully at my pictures.

I write what I write and I honestly don't care if it gets on or not. I'm writing to see if I can find out some of what I think about any number of situations. I work it out in the writing.

Every single work of art is the fulfillment of a prophecy; for every work of art is the conversion of an idea into an image.

Painting is self-discovery. You arrive at the image through the act of painting.

I'm not videotaping my life, but in a way I am trying to put certain things about myself on canvas.

Each artist comes to the painting or sculpture because there he can be told that he, the individual, transcends all classes and flouts all predictions. In the work of art, he finds his uniqueness confirmed.

Painting, for me, when it really 'happens,' is as miraculous as any natural phenomenon - as say, a lettuce leaf. By 'happens,' I mean the painting in which the inner aspect of man and his outer aspects interlock.

A man sets himself the task of portraying the world. Shortly before he dies he discovers that this patient labyrinth of lines is a drawing of his own face.

I have been struggling with mental illness and emptiness throughout my life. Now I want people to understand my glorious quest for the truth. Working on paintings is a process toward my artistic creation. It is a new spiritual theme of my whole philosophy for pursuing the truth. Each painting represents a process in all of my art.