Ted Shawn Quotes

I love the rush of being creative. I really think I live for it.

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.

For his heart was in his work, and the heart giveth grace unto every art.

The greatest creators are as hungry to consume as they are to create.

Great art can only be created out of love.

Being an artist is celebrating life.

It is very bad for (an artist) to talk about how he (creates). It is not the (artist's) province to explain or to run guided tours through the more difficult country of his work. It's none of their business that you had to learn. Let them think you were born that way.

It is not the act of making art that is painful. It is the desire to make something and not acting on it that causes pain....A day when I don't write is less happy. This is not discipline. It is affection, enthusiasm, adventure-any number of other words besides discipline.

I've always felt that there's a point where a piece seems to be alive, that is, living. And that's the point where I know the composition is finished.

I think at any point, as an artist, whatever the medium - just having an audience means the world.

God has given us an imagination, and our imagination is really the principle tool from which all creativity and artistry comes from.

Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.

The creative act amazes me. Whether it's poetry, whether it's music, it's an amazing process, and it has something to do with bringing forth the old out into the world to create and to bring forth that which will rejuvenate.

I love art, and it plays a huge role in my life. It's definitely one of my greatest joys, and I'm a bit fanatical about certain painters and poets and musicians and sculptors.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

I can't write songs unless I am in love.

My secret? A desire to work, years of dedication and loving what you do; I can't live without music.

The important thing for me as an artist is to keep going back to the page and doing what I do.

The little dissatisfaction which every artist feels at the completion of a work forms the germ of a new work.

When I finish a painting, it usually looks as surprising to me as to anyone else.

Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm.

I love the passion you go through while you're creating.

It's what people create that makes my heart stop.

I think what people are attracted to about me, if anything, is my passion. People got exposed to my passion through music and song first.

The artist is the medium between his fantasies and the rest of the world.