Quotes: John O'Donohue

"In Celtic understanding the soul is "the place where the imagination lives.""

–– John O'Donohue (1956-2008), Irish author, priest, philosopher, poet

via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2008, p. 165. 

Quotes: Paula Modersohn-Becker

"Intimacy is the soul of great art."

–– Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907), German expressionist painter 

via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 39.

Quotes: Meister Eckhart

"The soul does not grow by addition but by subtraction."  

–– Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), German Catholic theologian, philosopher, and mystic 

via: Commonplace Book 2013-2014, 2014, p. 133.

Quotes: Hayao Miyazaki

"Whenever someone creates something with all their heart, then that creation is given a soul." 

–– Hayao Miyazaki (b. 1941), Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist 

Quotes: Yohji Yamamoto

"Creation is lifework, creation is how ... you spend your life, you cannot divide life and the creation, it's impossible. Shut your eyes, close your ears, don't use your brain, use your heart, your soul."

–– Yohji Yamamoto (b. 1943), Japanese fashion designer  

Quotes: Vladimir Nabokov

"Imagination  – the muscle of the soul." 

–– Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), Russian, Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist

 via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook J 2020-2023, 2022, p. 25.

Quotes: Tilda Swinton

"Art is good for the soul precisely because it reminds me that we have souls in the first place." 

–– Tilda Swinton (b. 1960), British actress 

Source: Free Will Astrology, October 17, 2019.

 via: Art Alternatives Knapsack Sketchbook 2019 i, 2019, p. 7. 

Quotes: Kurt Vonnegut

"I've been drawing all my life, just as a hobby, without really having any shows or anything. It's just an agreeable thing to do, and I recommend it to everybody. I always say to people, practice an art, no matter how well or badly, because then you have the experience of becoming, and it makes your soul grow." 

–– Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), American writer 

Source: New York Times Book Review, Sunday August 20, 2023, p. 24.

Quotes: Kurt Vonnegut

"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." 

–– Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), American writer 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 144. 

Quotes: Emily Dickinson

"The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience." 

–– Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), American poet 

via: Sketchbook 32, 2022, p. 120. 

Quotes: Sue Monk Kidd

"The soul often speaks through longing. It manifests like a restlessness. And when the soul longs, it's trying to tell you something. And I think the soul speaks through what pulls us. That allure. The longing. The restlessness."

–– Sue Monk Kidd (b. 1948), American writer 

via: Sketchbook A, 2018, p. 61.

Meraki

meraki [may-ray-kee] (Greek) n. the soul, creativity or love put into something, the essence of yourself that is put into your work. 

via: Sketchbook 22, 2013, p. 51.

Quotes: Joshua C. Taylor

"The idea that prompted the work of an artist should continue to grow and have meaning for him after the work of art was complete; in the same way, the idea gleaned from the work of art must continue to expand in the consciousness of the viewer. The work of art serves only as a bridge, a link between a higher and lower consciousness, and must not be given value simply for itself. A work is as good as what it evokes, regardless of how its technical means might be discussed from other viewpoints. The true artist is always greater than the work he produces; the work simply provides a glimpse of his immortal soul. ... no work should be considered complete, but only a marker on the road to further spiritual knowledge." 

–– Joshua C. Taylor (1917-1981), American art historian, museum director and author 

Source: J. Turner. Nineteenth Century Theories of Art, p. 123-124.

via Sketchbook 11, 2010, p.32. 

Quotes 313: Oscar Wilde

"Colour can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways." 

–– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish poet and playwright 

via Sketchbook 7, 2009, p. 97