Irving Stone Quotes

The best romance is inside marriage; the finest love stories come after the wedding, not before.

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

Who wants to do good in this world must deny oneself. A man does not live on this Earth to be happy or to be honest only - he has to do great things for humanity, achieve the generosity of the spirit and rise above the banality where most of the people are drowning and wasting their days.

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

How difficult it is to be simple.

Every human life had its pattern that had to be worked out slowly to its ultimate conclusion.

Each of us has his own alphabet with which to create poetry.

Life's not so bad after all. There are not only poison but also antidotes.

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

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.

God did not create us to abandon us.

His mind was like a soup dish, wide and shallow; it could hold a small amount of nearly anything, but the slightest jarring spilled the soup into somebody's lap

No artist is normal. Who happen to be normal cannot be an artist.

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

Pleasure is one of the most important things in life, as important as food or drink.

Story writers say that love is concerned only with young people, and the excitement and glamour of romance end at the altar. How blind they are. The best romance is inside marriage; the finest love stories come after the wedding, not before.

A man who has not suffered has nothing to tell with his paintings.

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

Our secret thoughts - do they ever show up? The small flame of our soul can be burning hot, but no one comes to its warmth. Passersby see only a small whiff going through the chimney. Don't we need to take care of that flame, cherish it and patiently wait until someone will come and sit at it, do we?

To be an artist is first to be a manual laborer.

Morality is similar to religion - it is a somniferous drug which blinds people from seeing the squalor of their lives.

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

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

There is no thrill of mortal danger to surpass that of a lone man trying to create something that never existed before.

Savoir souffrir sans se plaindre, ça c'est la seule chose pratique, c'est la grande science, la leçon à apprendre, la solution du problème de la vie.[Knowing how to suffer without complaining is the only practical thing, it's the great science, the lesson to learn, the solution to the problem of life.]