Joshua Reynolds Quotes

Quotes about:

• There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Inspirational, Success, Freedom

  Quoted in Time magazine, December 8, 1930.

  53 Copy quote

• A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Life, Art, Rooms

  16 Copy quote

• The real character of a man is found out by his amusements.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Real, Character, Men

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• Simplicity is an exact mediumbetween too little and too much.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Simplicity, Littles, Too Much

  Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gray, Charles-Alphonse Dufresnoy, William Mason (1851). “The literary works of Sir Joshua Reynolds”, p.294

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• The great end of all arts is to make an impression on the imagination and the feeling. The imitation of nature frequently does this. Sometimes it fails and something else succeeds.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Art, Imagination, Feelings

  Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edward Malone (1867). “The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: Containing His Discourses, Idlers, A Journey to Flanders and Holland, and His Commentary on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting; to which is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Edward Malone”, p.132

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• A mere copier of nature can never produce anything great.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Originality, Produce, Copiers

  'Discourses on Art' (ed. R. Wark, 1975) no. 3 (14 December 1770)

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• Excellence is never granted to man, but as the reward of labour.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Men, Excellence, Rewards

  Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edward Malone (1867). “The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: Containing His Discourses, Idlers, A Journey to Flanders and Holland, and His Commentary on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting; to which is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Edward Malone”, p.19

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• Few have been taught to any purpose who have not been their own teachers.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Education, Teacher, Purpose

  'Discourses on Art' (ed. R. Wark, 1975) no. 2 (11 December 1769)

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• What has pleased and continues to please, is likely to please again; hence are derived the rules of art, and on this immovable foundation they must ever stand.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Art, Foundation, Pleasure

  Sir Joshua Reynolds (1906). “A Selection from the Discourses Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy”

  8 Copy quote

• The mind is but a barren soil; a soil which is soon exhausted, and will produce no crop, or only one, unless it be continually fertilized and enriched with foreign matter.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Learning, Political, Mind

  'Discourses on Art' (ed. R. Wark, 1975) no. 6 (10 December 1774)

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• Invention strictly speaking, is little more than a new combination of those images which have been previously gathered and deposited in the memory; nothing can come from nothing.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Memories, Creativity, Innovation

  sir Joshua Reynolds (1853). “Discourses on the Fine Arts Delivered to the Students of the Royal Academy”, p.7

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• Whatever trips you make, you must still have nature in your eye.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Travel, Eye, Stills

  Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edward Malone (1867). “The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: Containing His Discourses, Idlers, A Journey to Flanders and Holland, and His Commentary on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting; to which is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Edward Malone”, p.123

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• An artist who brings to his work a mind tolerably furnished with the general principles of art, and a taste formed upon the works of good artists – in short, who knows in what excellence consists - will, with the assistance of models... be an overmatch for the greatest painter that ever lived who should be debarred such advantages.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Art, Mind, Excellence

  Sir Joshua Reynolds (1837). “Discourses on Painting and the Fine Arts, delivered at the Royal Academy. With a portrait”, p.244

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• But young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought masters of execution, inciting them on the one hand, but also their natural sloth tempting them on the other. They are terrified at the prospect before them, of the toil required to attain exactness. The impetuosity of youth is disgusted at the slow approaches of a regular siege, and desires, from mere impatience of labour, to take the citadel by storm. They wish to find some shorter path to excellence, and hope to obtain the reward of eminence by other means, than those which the indispensable rules of art have prescribed.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Art, Ambition, Mean

  Sir Joshua Reynolds (1867). “The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: Containing His Discourses, Idlers, A Journey to Flanders and Holland, and His Commentary on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting; to which is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Edward Malone”, p.12

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• Could we teach taste or genius by rules, they would be no longer taste and genius.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Would Be, Genius, Taste

  'Discourses on Art' (ed. R. Wark, 1975) no. 3 (14 December 1770)

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• You are never to lose sight of nature; the instant you do, you are all abroad, at the mercy of every gust of fashion, without knowing or seeing the point to which you ought to steer.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Fashion, Sight, Knowing

  Sir Joshua Reynolds (1842). “The Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds”, p.218

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• Taste depends upon those finer emotions which make the organization of the soul.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Organization, Soul, Taste

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• There can be no doubt but that he who has the most materials has the greatest means of invention.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Mean, Doubt, Invention

  Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmond Malone (1809). “The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds”, p.159

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• Certainly, nothing can be more simple than monotony.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Simple, Simplicity, Monotony

  Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmond Malone (1809). “The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds”, p.89

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• Less coin, less care.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Money, Coins, Care

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• If you have great talents, industry will improve them: if you have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Talent, Ability, Deficiency

  'Discourses on Art' (ed. R. Wark, 1975) no. 2 (11 December 1769)

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• The greatest man is he who forms the taste of a nation; the next greatest is he who corrupts it.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Greatness, Men, Taste

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• Art in its perfection is not ostentatious; it lies hid and works its effect, itself unseen.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Art, Lying, Perfection

  'Discourses on Art' (ed. R. Wark, 1975) no. 6 (10 December 1774)

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• Words should be employed as the means, not the end; language is the instrument, conviction is the work.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Mean, Language, Conviction

  Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmond Malone (1809). “The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds”, p.94

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• Those who are not conversant in works of art are often surprised at the high value set by connoisseurs on drawings which appear careless, and in every respect unfinished; but they are truly valuable... they give the idea of a whole.

  Joshua Reynolds

  Art, Ideas, Drawing

  Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edward Malone (1867). “The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds: Containing His Discourses, Idlers, A Journey to Flanders and Holland, and His Commentary on Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting; to which is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author by Edward Malone”, p.108

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