Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance, who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Inspirational Michelangelo quotes will show you his opinions on art, sculpture, learning, and life.
If you’re searching for inspirational art quotes by artists that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of most inspiring Leonardo da Vinci quotes, Vincent Van Gogh quotes, and top Frida Kahlo quotes.
Most Famous Michelangelo Quotes
Carving is easy, you just go down to the skin and stop. Michelangelo
Genius is eternal patience. Michelangelo
I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death. Michelangelo
If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all. Michelangelo
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. Michelangelo
The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. Michelangelo
My life has been a gift up to this point, and I’ve been blessed beyond my wildest imagination. And wherever this ride takes me is where I’m going. Michelangelo
Dear to me is sleep still more, being made of stone, while pain and guilt still linger here below, blindness and numbness these please me alone; Then do not wake me, keep your voices low. Michelangelo
A beautiful thing never gives so much pain as does failing to hear and see it. Michelangelo
Draw, Antonio; draw, Antonio; draw and don’t waste time. Michelangelo
The level of our success is limited only by our imagination and no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. Michelangelo
As you give out so shall you receive. Michelangelo
There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder. Michelangelo
Critique by creating. Michelangelo
From such a gentle thing, from such a fountain of all delight, my every pain is born. Michelangelo
It is well with me only when I have a chisel in my hand. Michelangelo
A man paints with his brains and not with his hands. Michaelangelo
They say that those who do good to the good make them better, and to the bad, make them worse. Michelangelo
An artist does his most difficult work when he steps back from the blank canvas and thinks about what he is going to create. Michelangelo
Self negation is noble, self culture is beneficent, self possession is manly, but to the truly great and inspiring soul they are poor and tame compared to self abuse. Michelangelo
Beauty is the purgation of superfluities. Michelangelo
Where I lack words I shall supply with deeds. Michelangelo
Critique by creating. Michelangelo
The noble heart finds most in starlike eyes. Michelangelo
Do not fret, for God did not create us to abandon us. Michelangelo
The best artist has that thought alone which is contained within the marble shell; only the sculptor’s hand can break the spell to free the figures. Michelangelo
Death and love are the two wings that bear the good man to heaven. Michaelangelo
Do not suffer, for God has not made us to abandon us. Michelangelo
Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all come. Michaelangelo
Attend to living, and let property go sooner than suffer discomforts, for I would rather have you alive and poor, because if you were dead, I wouldn’t care for all the gold in the world, and if those chirping crickets there in Florence or anyone else reproves you, let them talk, for they are ignorant men and without love. Michelangelo
Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. Michaelangelo
Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come. Michelangelo
Faith in oneself is the best and safest course. Michaelangelo
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. Michelangelo
For those who feel it, nothing makes the soul so religious and pure as the endeavor to create something perfect. For God is perfection, and whoever strives after it, is striving after something divine. Michaelangelo
Death and love are the two wings that bear the good man to heaven. Michelangelo
My good is given to me by heaven, my evil by myself, by my free will, of which I am deprived. Michelangelo
Read the heart and not the letter for the pen cannot draw near the good intent. Michelangelo
Gazing on beautiful things acts on my soul. Michelangelo
Attend to living; and if you can’t have the honors of the country as the other citizens do, let it suffice you to have bread and live virtuously in Christ and poorly. Michelangelo
Genius is eternal patience. Michaelangelo
Your gifts lie in the place where your values, passions and strengths meet. Discovering that place is the first step toward sculpting your masterpiece, Your Life. Michelangelo
The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection. Michaelangelo
Take care of yourself, and watch out for those you have to watch out for, for one does not die more than once, and nobody returns to put right the things done wrong. Michelangelo
I am a poor man and of little worth, who is laboring in that art that God has given me in order to extend my life as long as possible. Michaelangelo
I believe there are many poor and noble families in Florence with whom it would be a charity to become allied, even if there were no dowry, because there would also be no pride. Michelangelo
I created a vision of David in my mind and simply carved away everything that was not David. Michelangelo
Why do you send fools to judge my work? Michelangelo
I live and love in God’s peculiar light. Michaelangelo
The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection. Michelangelo
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. Michaelangelo
With few words I shall make thee understand my soul. Michelangelo
If in my youth I had realized that the sustaining splendor of beauty of with which I was in love would one day flood back into my heart, there to ignite a flame that would torture me without end, how gladly would I have put out the light in my eyes. Michaelangelo
A man paints with his brains and not with his hands. Michelangelo
If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all. Michaelangelo
Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. Michelangelo
If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master. Michelangelo
It is necessary to keep ones compass in ones eyes and not in the hand, for the hands execute, but the eye judges.Michelangelo
In every block of marble, I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it. Michelangelo
After four tortured years, more than 400 over life sized figures, I felt as old and as weary as Jeremiah. I was only 37, yet friends did not recognize the old man I had become. Michelangelo
It is necessary to keep one’s compass in one’s eyes and not in the hand, for the hands execute, but the eye judges. Michaelangelo
A beautiful thing never gives so much pain as does failing to hear and see it. Michelangelo
It is well with me only when I have a chisel in my hand. Michaelangelo
Trifles make perfection, but perfection is no trifle. Michelangeloa
