Auguste Rodin Quotes

The work of art is already within the block of marble. I just chop off whatever isn't needed.

To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature.

The delicate droop of the petals standing out in relief, is like the eyelid of a child.

Nobody does good to men with impunity.

Man's naked form belongs to no particular moment in history; it is eternal, and can be looked upon with joy by the people of all ages.

I have unbounded admiration for the nude. I worship it like a god.

People say I think too much about women, yet, after all what is there more important to think about?

An artist worthy of the name should express all the truth of nature, not only the exterior truth, but also, and above all, the inner truth.

Art is the pleasure of a spirit that enters nature and discovers that it too has a soul.

How painful it is to find that my figure can be of no help to my future ... how painful to see it rejected on account of a slanderous suspicion!

True artists are almost the only men who do their work for pleasure.

One must work, nothing
but work, and one must have patience ...

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

My drawings are the result of my sculpture.

There is nothing ugly in art except that which is without character, that is to say, that which offers no outer or inner truth.

What is commonly called ugliness in nature can in art become full of beauty.

I would have to talk for a year to repeat a single on of my works with words.

The body always expresses the spirit whose envelope it is. And for him who can see, the nude offers the richest meaning.

The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live. Be a man before being an artist!

The more simple we are, the more complete we become.

He who is discouraged after a failure is not a real artist.

Sculpture is the art of the hole and the lump.

I am like a moon that shines on an immense, unknown sea where ships never pass

The artist enriches the soul of humanity.
The artist delights people with
a thousand different shades of feeling.

Genius only comes to those who know how to use their eyes and their intelligence.

Patience is also a form of action.

Inside you there's an artist you don't know about. He's not interested in how things look different in moonlight.

I know very well that one must fight, for one is often in contradiction to the spirit of the age.

The only principle in art is to copy what you see. Dealers in aesthetics to the contrary, every other method is fatal.

It is the artist who is truthful and it is photography which lies, for in reality time does not stop

The artist has only to trust his eyes.

If we now seek the spiritual significance of the technique of Michelangelo we shall find that his sculpture expressed restless energy ...

Even with all the documents, you can never forge nature

There should be no argument in regard to morality in art. There is no morality in nature.

In art, immorality cannot exist. Art is always sacred.

You must always work.

Mystery is like a kind of atmosphere which bathes the greatest works of the masters.

Mere exactitude, of which photography and moulage [life casting] are the lowest forms, does not inspire feelings.

Nothing is wasted of time if you use the xperience wisely.

The realities of nature surpass our most ambitious dreams.

Black is the queen of colours.

The human body is first and foremost a mirror to the soul and its greatest beauty comes from that.

Love your calling with passion, it is the meaning of your life.

The nude alone is well dressed

I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.

I believe that photography can create great works of art, but hitherto it has been extraordinarily bourgeois and babbling. (1908)