Michelangelo Quotes

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

What beauty is, I know not, though it adheres to many things.

Beauty is that little something that fills the whole world, and is contained neither in a single straight nose, a long eyelash, nor a blue mountain. Some see it in a leg of mutton, others in a compound fracture; and to expect others to accept one's own definition of it is as absurd as to expect all humanity to use the same toilet-brush.

I believe that what we call beautiful is generally a by-product.

I always loved aesthetics. Not particularly fashion, but an idea of beauty.

Beauty really has such a wide field of interpretation. I guess that's why it's forever fascinating.

Is beauty beautiful, or is it only our eyes that make it so?

The beauty that is there is also available for me, too. But I see a deeper beauty that isn't so readily available to others.... I don't see how studying a flower ever detracts from its beauty. It only adds

Art has got nothing to do with taste.

I never can feel certain of any truth, but from a clear perception of its beauty.

To tell you the truth, I am rather perplexed by the concept of 'art'. What one person considers to be 'art' is often not 'art' to another. 'Beautiful' and 'ugly' are old-fashioned concepts that are seldom applied these days; perhaps justifiably, who knows? Something repulsive, which gives you a moral hangover, and hurts your ears or eyes, may well be art. Only 'kitsch' is not art - we're all agreed about that. Indeed, but what is 'kitsch'? If only I knew!

If a man cannot see a church, it is preposterous to take his opinion about its altar-piece or painted window.

There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty-unless she is wed to something more meaningful-is always superficial

When most people looked at Josie Tyrell, they only saw a certain collection of bones, a selection of forms filling space. But Michael saw past the mouth and the eyes, the architecture of the body, her fleshly masquerade. Other boys were happy enough to enjoy the show, they just wanted to be entertained in the body's shadow theater. But Michael had to come backstage. He went down into the mines, into the dark, and brought up the gold, your new self, a better self. But what good was it if he was just going to leave her behind?

Maybe we judge people too much by their looks because it's easier than seeing what's really important.

Nothing so resembles a daub as a masterpiece.

Art, we are told, is a criterion of one's taste. How humiliating, should our taste turn out to be bad. Rather as though we were caught stark naked with a poor figure.

I'll buy a bottle for anyone who can tell me what makes a picture beautiful!

We may say of agreeableness, as distinct from beauty, that it is a symmetry whose rules are unknown.

I didn't care about truth; I cared about beauty. It took me many years--it took the experience of lived time--to realize that they really are the same thing.

Expression, sentiment, truth to nature, are essential: but all those are not enough. I never care to look at a picture again, if it be ill composed; and if well composed I can hardly leave off looking at it.

Art trains the mind through the eye, and the eye through the mind. As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.

If you speak of beauty, you are at once suspected of...kitsch.

The vulgar herd catches at the gross apparent fact, but the man of insight knows what lies on the surfaces does lie.

So many things become beautiful when you really look.