Irving Stone quotes

Irving Stone was an American writer renowned for his biographical novels about famous historical figures. His most acclaimed works include vivid portrayals of artists and thinkers such as Vincent van Gogh and Michelangelo. He captured the passions and struggles of creative geniuses through detailed research and compelling storytelling. Here are 24 of his quotes:

Misery is the only thing in the world that has no end or edge.

Irving Stone

We... believe that art is religious, because it is one of man's highest aspirations. There is no such thing as pagan art, only good and bad art.

Irving Stone

It's so easy to love. The only hard thing is to be loved. [Vincent Van Gogh].

Irving Stone

It's freezing up here. What did you use to keep warm?" "Indignation," said Michelangelo. "Best fuel I know. Never burns out.

Irving Stone

There are no faster or firmer friendships than those formed between people who love the same books.

Irving Stone

Talent is cheap; dedication is expensive. It will cost you your life.

Irving Stone

I do not know a better cure for mental illness than a book.

Irving Stone

How difficult it is to be simple.

Irving Stone

One should not become an artist because he can, but because he must. It is only for those who would be miserable without it.

Irving Stone

Normal people do not create art.

Irving Stone

To try to understand another human being, to grapple for his ultimate depths, that is the most dangerous of human endeavors.

Irving Stone

There's no love without pain.

Irving Stone

Art is amoral; so is life. For me there are no obscene pictures or books; there are only poorly conceived and poorly executed ones.

Irving Stone

He had been standing still; for an artist, one of the more painful forms of death.

Irving Stone

You cannot be firmly certain about anything. You can only have enough courage and strength to do what you consider to be right. Maybe it turns out that was wrong, but still you would have done his, and it is most important.

Irving Stone

Reading has always been the largest and most irreplaceable pleasure for Vincent; reading about other people's successes and failures, joys and sufferings seemed to bury his own failures.

Irving Stone

Loneliness is a kind of prison. [Vincent Van Gogh].

Irving Stone

You cannot be the good all the time - sometimes it is necessary to get angry. [Vincent Van Gogh].

Irving Stone

[They say I imagine - it is not true - I remember. ].

Irving Stone

I spend several years trying to get inside the brain and heart of my subjects, listening to the interior monologues in their letters, and when I have to bridge the chasms between the factual evidence, I try to make an intuitive leap through the eyes and motivation of the person I'm writing about.

Irving Stone

He who loves lives, he who lives works, and he who works has bread.

Irving Stone