Saturday, May 22, 2010

Can I Quote You On That?



Over the years I've collected an assortment of inspirational quotes so I thought I would share with you just a few of my favorites about color. Which one is your favorite?


Color is but a sensation and has no existence outside the nervous system of living beings.  Nicholas Ogden Rood, American Physicist, 1831-1902

“Who told you that one paints with colors? One makes use of colors, but one paints with emotions.” Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, French Rococo Era Painter, 1699-1779  


“If we were to imagine an orange on the blue side or green on the red side or violet on the yellow side, it would give us the same impression as a north wind coming from the southwest.” Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein, Austrian Philosopher, 1889-1951


“The sound of colors is so definite that it would be hard to find anyone who would express bright yellow with bass notes or dark lake with treble…”  Wassily Kandinsky,  Russian-born French Expressionist Painter, 1866-1944  


"The only color I don't have is navy brown."  Yogi Berra,  American Major League Baseball Catcher, Manager, and Hall of Fame Honoree, b.1925.


'Yes,' I answered you last night; / 'No,' this morning, sir, I say. / Colours seen by candle-light / Will not look the same by day.” Elizabeth Barrett Browning,  English Poet, 1806-1861 

“For those colours which you wish to be beautiful, always first prepare a pure white ground.”   Leonardo da Vinci,  Italian High Renaissance Painter and Inventor, 1452-1519  

"I know I can not paint a flower. I can not paint the sun on the desert on a bright summer morning but maybe in terms of paint color I can convey to you my experience of the flower or the experience that makes the flower of significance to me at that particular time."   Georgia O'Keeffe,  American Painter, 1887-1986 

Almost all words do have color and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone's eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her too."
 Gladys Taber,    American Author, 1899-1980 

Some of us come on earth seeing – some of us come on earth seeing color.”   Louise Nevelson, Russian-born American Abstract Expressionist Sculptor, 1899-1988 











3 comments:

Unknown said...

I love color quotes! What a great collection you've put together. I like Georgia O'Keeffe's...and actually just watched the movie about her with Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons. Fascinating lady...kind of a sad life, but at least she had color. :)

A Different Karen said...

The hold that color has on us is absolutely magical. Just thinking of a favorite hue can bring a smile to my lips and elicit a sigh.........Now, to complicate things a bit; have you heard of synesthesia? It's a bit of mixing up of our 5 senses. One who has it might "taste" numbers or "hear" colors.....I only know one person who has it and in case you're wondering every wall in her home is painted a different but beautiful and restful color and her wardrobe is lovely, too. Thank you, Karen, for making me stop and think about how much happiness color brings into my life....

"Yeah, that works..!" said...

Kelly - Georgia is one of my faves, too! I'm anxious to see the movie - I forgot about that - thanks for reminding me and for stopping by!!

Karen - I had never heard of synesthesia, except I recently did watch a news profile on this amazing autistic young man who saw numbers in his head as colors and patterns. Just amazing. I wonder if this is somehow connected? I think I will look into that more. Thanks! And I am so glad this post brought a smile to your day!

inspiration is all around even where we least expect it