Norman Rockwell Quotes

Quotes about:

• Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed. My fundamental purpose is to interpret the typical American. I am a story teller.

  Norman Rockwell

  Thinking, America, Typical

  "Fodor's New England". Book by Debbie Harmsen, p. 194, 2008.

  59 Copy quote

• If a picture wasn't going very well, I'd put a puppy in it.

  Norman Rockwell

  Puppy, Wells, Ifs

  33 Copy quote

• I paint life as I would like it to be.

  Norman Rockwell

  Paint

  Norman Rockwell (1988). “Norman Rockwell and the Saturday Evening Post”, Bookthrift

  47 Copy quote

• The secret to so many artists living so long is that every painting is a new adventure. So, you see, they're always looking ahead to something new and exciting. The secret is not to look back.

  Norman Rockwell

  Life, Moving On, Travel

  "A Rockwell Portrait : An Intimate Biography". Book by Donald Walton (p. 251), 1978.

  83 Copy quote

• Commonplaces never become tiresome. It is we who become tired when we cease to be curious and appreciative.

  Norman Rockwell

  Appreciation, Tired, Curious

  Norman Rockwell, Maureen Hart Hennessey, Anne Knutson, High Museum of Art, Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge (1999). “Norman Rockwell: pictures for the American people”, Harry N. Abrams

  46 Copy quote

• The story is the first thing and the last thing.

  Norman Rockwell

  Stories, Lasts, Firsts

  32 Copy quote

• The view of life I communicate in my pictures excludes the sordid and ugly. I paint life as I would like it to be.

  Norman Rockwell

  Views, Ugly, Paint

  Norman Rockwell, Thomas Rockwell (1979). “Norman Rockwell, My Adventures as an Illustrator: An Autobiography”, Curtis Publishing Company, (IN)

  31 Copy quote

• Some people have been kind enough to call me a fine artist. I've always called myself an illustrator. I'm not sure what the difference is. All I know is that whatever type of work I do, I try to give it my very best. Art has been my life.

  Norman Rockwell

  Art, Differences, People

  Norman Rockwell (1994). “Norman Rockwell: Mini Masterpieces”, Outlet

  19 Copy quote

• I just wanted to do something important.

  Norman Rockwell

  Important, Wanted

  44 Copy quote

• No man with a conscience can just bat out illustrations. He's got to put all his talent and feeling into them!

  Norman Rockwell

  Men, Illustration, Feelings

  "Fusion Book 1, Enhanced Edition: Integrated Reading and Writing, Book 1". Book by Dave Kemper, Verne Meyer, John Van Rys, Patrick Sebranek (p. 202), January 2014.

  31 Copy quote

• I'll never have enough time to paint all the pictures I'd like to.

  Norman Rockwell

  Enough Time, Enough, Paint

  "A Rockwell Portrait : An Intimate Biography". Book by Donald Walton (p. 61), 1978.

  31 Copy quote

• I know of no painless process for giving birth to a picture idea. When I must produce, I retire to a quiet room with a supply of cheap paper and sharp pencils; my brain knows it's going to take a beating.

  Norman Rockwell

  Ideas, Giving, Brain

  Susan E. Meyer, Norman Rockwell (1981). “Norman Rockwell's people”, ABRAMS

  16 Copy quote

• If there was sadness in this creative world of mine, it was a pleasant sadness. If there were problems, they were humorous problems.

  Norman Rockwell

  Humorous, Sadness, Creative

  Norman Rockwell (1988). “Norman Rockwell and the Saturday Evening Post”, Bookthrift

  18 Copy quote

• How will I be remembered? As a technician or artist? As a humorist or a visionary?

  Norman Rockwell

  Artist, Visionaries, Remembered

  4 Copy quote

• When I go to farms or little towns, I am always surprised at the discontent I find. And New York, too often, has looked across the sea toward Europe. And all of us who turn our eyes away from what we have are missing life.

  Norman Rockwell

  New York, Eye, Artist

  13 Copy quote

• If a picture wasn't going very well I'd put a puppy dog in it, always a mongrel, you know, never one of the full bred puppies. And then I'd put a bandage on its foot... I liked it when I did it, but now I'm sick of it.

  Norman Rockwell

  Dog, Feet, Sick

  41 Copy quote

• Right from the beginning, I always strived to capture everything I saw as completely as possible.

  Norman Rockwell

  Artist, Saws, Capture

  17 Copy quote

• I unconsciously decided that, even if it wasn't an ideal world, it should be. So I painted only the ideal aspects of it - pictures in which there are no drunken slatterns or self-centered mothers... only foxy grandpas who played baseball with the kids and boys who fished from logs and got up circuses in the backyard.

  Norman Rockwell

  Baseball, Mother, Kids

  7 Copy quote

• I'm tired, but proud.

  Norman Rockwell

  Tired, Proud, I'm Tired

  Norman Rockwell (1988). “Norman Rockwell and the Saturday Evening Post”, Bookthrift

  13 Copy quote

• I learned to draw everything except glamorous women. No matter how much I tried to make them look sexy, they always ended up looking silly... or like somebody's mother.

  Norman Rockwell

  Sexy, Mother, Stupid

  19 Copy quote

• The Balopticon [a machine that projects photos on canvas to trace the lines] is an evil, inartistic, habit-forming, lazy and vicious machine! It also is a useful, time-saving, practical and helpful one. I use one often-and am thoroughly ashamed of it. I hide it whenever I hear people coming.

  Norman Rockwell

  People, Evil, Lazy

  9 Copy quote

• I can take a lot of pats on the back. I love it when I get admiring letters from people. And, of course, I'd love it if the critics would notice me, too.

  Norman Rockwell

  Artist, People, Letters

  23 Copy quote

• The '20s ended in an era of extravagance, sort of like the one we're in now. There was a big crash, but then the country picked itself up again, and we had some great years. Those were the days when American believed in itself. I was happy and proud to be painting it.

  Norman Rockwell

  Country, Artist, Years

  8 Copy quote

• I'm the oldest antique in town.

  Norman Rockwell

  Artist, Antiques, Towns

  21 Copy quote

• I work from fatigue to fatigue at my age there's only so much daylight left.

  Norman Rockwell

  Age, Daylight, Fatigue

  Norman Rockwell (1988). “Norman Rockwell: My Adventures As an Illustrator”, Harry N Abrams Incorporated

  4 Copy quote

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