Top 30 Great Artist Quotes

John Cougar Mellencamp – I didn’t like him in the beginning. I liked some of the stuff around the ‘Scarecrow’ period. I go back and forth on him all the time, but I think he’s a good artist. I don’t know if he’s a great artist or not, but he rose above his original level of achievement.

I am a leader, so leaders always get heat. They’re always going against the grain. Jimi Hendrix got heat; Bob Marley got heat; Miles Davis got heat. Every great artist got heat. Heat means you’re doing something right.

I want to be a great person, not just a great artist.

The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows another… and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.

Roman Polanski is a man who cares deeply about his art and its place in this world. What happened to him on his incredible path is filled with tragedy, and most men would have collapsed. Instead, he became a great artist and continues to make great films.

Don Martin was the one who really stood out. I really always loved his work. He was such a great artist.

Crumb was such an influence on me. He’s such a visionary, such a great artist, that he so shaped my artistic sensibilities on a certain level that I do owe everything to him. The way I see the world is largely changed by him.

My favorite song I ever wrote is ‘Yeah 3x’ because it was my first placement. It was with a great artist, Chris Brown, and I couldn’t believe it at the time. Honestly, I still can’t really believe it! It is the first time someone ever gave me a shot, so that is my favorite.

If they’re not temperamental, I don’t want them. It’s in the nature of a great artist to be that way.

The quality of our lives is diminished every time we lose a great artist. It’s a different world without Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Curtis Mayfield, Brian Jones and the rest.

To be a great artist, you need to know yourself as best as you possibly can. I live my life and delve into my own psyche. It’s more about exploring how I feel rather than making pale imitations of something that came before. We are unique beings, and the way we look at things is our own.

I like Jaykae. He’s a great artist, and I absolutely love Dr. Dre’s album and a bit of Calvin Harris now and then.

I would like to be a great artist. I would quit pitching if I could paint like Monet or Rousseau. But I can’t. What I can do is pitch, and I can do that very well.

The great artist is a slave to his ideals.

Against expectations I was charmed by Gehry’s Edgemar development, which housed the Santa Monica Museum of Art, and positively awed by the Bilbao Guggenheim. That Gehry is a great artist I have no doubt, but talent and determination are no warrant against confusion, nor are they a guaranty to produce great art.

I contend that if it wasn’t for Jimi, the gadgets we use for electric guitars now wouldn’t have happened. He was an inventor, in a sense – as well as being great artist.

Beyonce is a beautiful, elegant woman who is also a wonderful dancer. And her voice is sublime. Just like her husband, Jay-Z, Beyonce has real talent. They are both the kind of truly great artist who will be remembered by history. Their child will be lucky to have such talented parents.

The great artist is the man who most obviously succeeds in turning his pains to advantage, in letting suffering deepens his understanding and sensibility, in growing through his pains.

The great poet is a great artist. He is painter and sculptor. The greatest pictures and statues have been painted and chiseled with words. They outlast all others.

I like ‘4:44.’ It’s a good album. AY-Z’s a great, great artist.

You need pencil miles to be a great artist, animator, or filmmaker, and the sooner you start making mistakes, the quicker you learn.

You can only be the great artist for so long – come out with effort after effort that garners all this praise.

I am not a great cook, I am not a great artist, but I love art, and I love food, so I am the perfect traveller.

I don’t want to feel like I have to be a poster child for anything other than being a great artist. I don’t take that on board as being my responsibility as a gay man, because I think it’s really limiting.

Pollock was well known, certainly, but for all the wrong reasons. He was known as much for being wild and unconventional in his working methods as for being a great artist.

I am a leader. Leaders always get heat. They’re always going against the grain. Jimi Hendrix got heat; Bob Marley got heat; Miles Davis got heat. Every great artist got heat. Heat means you’re doing something right.

Well, in order for me to be successful… In order to be a great artist – musician, actor, painter, whatever – you must be able to be private in public at all times.

The first time I sang with David Daniels… I had never performed with a countertenor before. That first time was magic, it was so beautiful. And he’s such a great artist.

What distinguishes a great artist from a weak one is first their sensibility and tenderness; second, their imagination, and third, their industry.

I was only to see Mr. Chaplin once after ‘The Kid.’ A great artist, one of the greatest, but I’m afraid I don’t think very much of him as a man. Running away from the country that gave him everything and denouncing the country in addition is something you simply can’t make any allowances for.