Vincent van Gogh

It always strikes me, and it is very peculiar, that, whenever we see the image of indescribable and unutterable desolation__f loneliness, poverty, and misery, the end and extreme of things__he thought of God comes into one's mind.

It is only right and proper to be moved by the Bible, but present-day reality has so strong a hold over us that even when we try to imagine the past the minor events in our lives immediately wrench us out of our musings, and our own adventures throw us back irrevocably upon our personal feelings__oy, boredom, suffering, anger, or a smile.

In would rather die of passion than of boredom.

A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke

Seek only light and freedom and do not immerse yourself too deeply in the worldly mire.

It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.

And when I read, and really I do not read so much, only a few authors, - a few men that I discovered by accident - I do this because they look at things in a broader, milder and more affectionate way than I do, and because they know life better, so that I can learn from them.

The world concerns me only in so far as I owe it a certain debt and duty, so to speak, because I have walked this earth for 30 years, and out of gratitude would like to leave some memento in the form of drawings and paintings__ot made to please this school or that, but to express a genuine human feeling.

What is drawing? How does one learn it? It is working through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do.

One of the most beautiful things to do is to paint darkness, which nevertheless has light in it.

A good picture is equivalent to a good deed.

In the fullness of artistic life there is, and remains, and will always come back at times, that homesick longing for the truly ideal life that can never come true.

I hope to depart in no other way than looking back with love and wistfulness and thinking, oh paintings that I would have made..

Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.

We feel lonely now and then and long for friends and think we should be quite different and happier if we found a friend of whom we might say: __e is the one._ But you, too, will begin to learn that there is much self-deception behind this longing; if we yielded too much to it, it would lead us from the road.

There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke.

Where friendship blooms, life is reborn.

Close friends are truly life's treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone.