Andy Goldsworthy Quotes

I sometimes find the surface interesting. To say that the mark of a good portrait is whether you get them or get the soul - I don't think this is possible all of the time.

Study the world's skin before you set out to look for its heart.

It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it.

See into life, don't just look at it.

To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things.

Your knowledge of what is going on can only be superficial and relative.

Those who understand only what can be explained understand very little.

Actions are always more complex and nuanced than they seem. We have to be willing to wrestle with paradox in pursuing understanding.

My work isn't about form. It's about seeing.

To get a sense of a person, to get their essence, it's not just about details. It is about something you can't really describe.

Clay is not my surface; everyone knows that.

Art is made in hindsight.

Our apparitions, the things you know us by, are simply childish. Beneath it is all dark, it is all spreading, it is unfathomably deep; but now and again we rise to the surface and that is what you see us by.

The background reveals the true being and state of being of the man or thing. If I do not possess the background, I make the man transparent, the thing transparent.

When we look at thing, we must examine its essence and treat its appearance merely as an usher at the threshold, we must, once we cross the threshold, grasp the essence of the thing.

They understand but a little who understand only what can be explained.

Democritus says, "But we know nothing really; for truth lies deep down".

one cannot judge the beauty of a path merely by looking at its entrance.

I saw more than I can tell / And I understood more than I saw.

I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

In every object there is inexhaustible meaning.

You might see nothing in him. I see everything in him.

Your shallow men shall dream, dreams, your insightful men shall see visions.

Even mud gives the illusion of depth.

Everything in this world has a hidden meaning, I thought. Men, animals, trees, stars, they are all hieroglyphics; woe to anyone who begins to decipher them and guess what they mean.... When you see them, you do not understand them. You think they are really men, animals, trees, stars. It is only years later, too late, that you understand.