
I say that good painters imitated nature; but that bad ones vomited it.
Miguel de Cervantes in Exemplary Novels (1613)

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy! | In Spanish | In Romanian
Related quotes
The thirst for vengeance was the beautiful nature which Homer imitated.
quote by Johann G. Hamann

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Painters were also attorneys, happy storytellers of anecdote, psychologists, botanists, zoologists, archaeologists, engineers, but there were no creative painters.
quote by Kazimir Malevich

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I like all those painters who loved and had a strong feeling for nature.
quote by Alfred Sisley

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Good taste is the modesty of the mind; that is why it cannot be either imitated or acquired.
quote by Delphine de Girardin

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

I did not want to be a tree, a flower or a wave. In a dancer's body, we as audience must see ourselves, not the imitated behavior of everyday actions, not the phenomenon of nature, not exotic creatures from another planet, but something of the miracle that is a human being.
quote by Martha Graham

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Today painters do not have to go to a subject matter outside of themselves. Most modern painters work from a different source. They work from within.
quote by Jackson Pollock

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
I'm not, by nature, a collaborator. My biggest influences were people like painters and poets. These are solitary workers.
quote by Robert Wyatt

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The men resent a woman getting any honour in what they consider is essentially their field. Men painters mostly despise women painters. So I have decided to stop squirming, to throw any honour in with Canada and women.
quote by Emily Carr

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

Every good composition is above all a work of abstraction. All good painters know this. But the painter cannot dispense with subjects altogether without his work suffering impoverishment.
quote by Diego Rivera

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
Thirteen Lines
A brain peered through stoic eyes;
Yet all it saw was rendered into
Flawed interpretation –
No honoured contemplation of a
Gluon, muon, quark of any flavour;
Nor a vision or conception of its world
Within a universe anthropic in its physical laws,
Inside a boundless multiverse.
All it gleaned and modelled
Bore parochialism well beyond belief! –
Delusional perhaps.
Survival only matters here on planet Earth –
Evolution saw to that.
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2010
na ture nature nature nature
nature nature nature nature
nature nature nature nature
nature nature nature nature
nature nature nature nature
nature nature nature nature
poem by Mark R Slaughter

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to, the feeling for the things themselves, for reality is more important than the feeling for pictures.
quote by Vincent Van Gogh

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!

It is not the language of painters but the language of nature which one should listen to. . . . The feeling for the things themselves, for reality, is more important than the feeling for pictures.
quote by Vincent Van Gogh

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian
Good art theory must smell of the studio, although its language should differ from the household talk of painters and sculptors.
quote by Rudolf Arnheim

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
GOOD and BAD
There seems to be a discrepancy
about what is good or bad.
It depends upon who you are
and what it is you have had.
Good to some is the nature of things
and how it makes you feel.
Bad to some is how nature sings
because they want to steal
the beauty of it for their own vicious use.
And good to them is all their abuse
to things that grow and things that thrive
and so they apply their ruse.
The thievery of resources for greed and wealth,
The teaching of lies to ruin your health,
The addition of poisons in what you eat,
The killing of wildlife whose lives they cheat,
The excuses for nuclear energy
to power what we could have for free.
So good, bad what does it mean?
Not too much in our everyday scene.
Nature's been taken for granted today.
But always nature will have the last say.
poem by Edwina Reizer

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
The Heaven Broker
I am the GOOD I set you free
I conquer the evil, follow me and you’ll see
Contemplate NATURE, you’ll find me in each bee
I am the GOOD I let you MATURE
LOVE and PEACE are my nature
Contemplate NATURE, you’ll find me in each feature
I am the GOOD, I let you WISE
I fight against hypocrisy and lies
Contemplate NATURE, you’ll find me in each Exact Sunrise
I am the GOOD, from the sins I am the preventive
I wipe away your hurts, just be my captive
Contemplate NATURE, you’ll find me from the beginning I am native
I am the GOOD, search, explore, you’ll find me in your inside
In the deep of your inner, I am sinking, help me, I am your Pride
Contemplate NATURE, you’ll find me when natural acts to me they guide
I am the GOOD, I emancipate you from the TEMPTATION, from the DESIRE
I keep your Inner PEACE, I am the King of your Peaceful empire
Contemplate NATURE, you’ll find me when the RAIN quenches the FIRE
I am the GOOD, Don’t hesitate, follow me, I am your Special Fair Law;
Peace, Love, Care, Tolerance, Respect and Faith are my Rational Draw
Contemplate NATURE, you’ll find me when you conceive the CREATOR Perfection, there is no flaw
Right, left, up and down, meditate me I am the NATURE, I am the LOVE
One only CREATOR can do that absolutely He Is Above …
Contemplate NATURE, you’ll find me when all living beings praise Trees, Seas, Bees, Ants and Doves…
I am the GOOD, I am the BELIEVER, your HEAVEN Ticket I’ll pay
I am the TRUTH of each year, month and day,
I head your FAITH to the RIGHT way
If you contemplate me, you would touch me everyday
I show you my signs, I am the Moon light and the Sun Ray
JUST CONTMPLATE NATURE, I'LL BE THERE, IN EVERY WAY
*** All My Respect To My Second Mother THE NATURE
poem by Glamorous Enigma

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

In Harmony with Nature
"In Harmony with Nature?" Restless fool,
Who with such heat dost preach what were thee,
When true, the last impossibility—
To be like Nature strong, like Nature cool!
Know, man hath all which Nature hath, but more,
And in that more lie all his hopes of good.
Nature is cruel, man is sick of of blood;
Nature is stubborn, man would fain adore;
Nature is fickle, man hath need of rest;
Nature forgives no debt, and fears no grave;
Man would be mild, and with safe conscience blest.
Man must begin, know this, where Nature ends;
Nature and man can never be fast friends.
Fool, if thou canst not pass her, rest her slave!
poem by Matthew Arnold from Sonnets (1849)

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
Gaia’s Plan
Please, don’t sweep the leaves away –
Their essence gives to life’s decay.
Never hack the flowers down –
Their colours bless the laughing clown.
Now why the mowing of the lawn?
The severed grass will lie forlorn.
Let our flora live undressed,
Or under Man, will toil repressed!
I, the tree of standing still –
Erect and proud, and stout of will,
Aglow with motley bark of earth –
Advance my roots for all they’re worth,
Internalising Nature’s bowels
To snag the devil, tweak his jowls
And pull his hairs from whence they grow!
I’ll destroy his pagan show
Of Homo sapiens’ disrespect!
The humble ape must reconnect
With Gaia’s plan!
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2010
nature nature nature nature nature nature's creature
nature nature nature nature nature nature's creature
nature nature nature nature nature nature's creature
nature nature nature nature nature nature's creature
nature nature nature nature nature nature's creature
poem by Mark R Slaughter

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
A World Without Birds
In years from now will the children of the future on warm evenings in the prime of Spring
On trees and bushes in groves, woods and parklands when flowers are blooming hear the wild birds sing
For a World without birds would be sad to live in and sad to learn that they are becoming rare
These are sad times for people who love Nature and who for Nature's creatures genuinely do care,
A World without birds to think of even painful something that one would not rather contemplate
For birds seem an integral part of Nature the poets and painters them do celebrate
They have been in the World for perhaps longer than humans they have evolved from the dinosaur age
Humans even use them for their entertainment they keep them in an aviary or a cage
But birds should never be held in captivity as Nature's creatures meant to live naturally
They are not meant to be captives of humans in Nature's World they should live wild and free
For bird lovers it must be disappointing to know their numbers are on the decline
So nice to hear them singing in the gardens when flowers are blooming in the Spring sunshine
The demise of birds the thought even unpleasant a sadder World without them it would be
They are so much an integral part of Nature at least that is how it does seem to me.
poem by Francis Duggan

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Country Walking
I walked a league and o'er the moor;
I walked and walked as ne’er before,
And on to walk from dale to hill
And on again to claim the thrill.
Behold! that walking does for me:
The senses heightened, mind of glee,
While rolling vistas pass me by
To swell the heart, enthrall the eye.
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2009
nature nature nature nature
nature nature lovely creature
nature nature nature nature
nature nature lovely feature
nature nature nature
poem by Mark R Slaughter

Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!

He imitated me so well that I couldn't stand myself any longer.
quote by Georges Pompidou

Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!