Creative hands are rarely tidy

Once a pastor was taking a walk, hoping to find something to preach on, when he came upon two men in a blacksmith shop. One of the men was using signs to tell the other where to hit and what to do, while the other obeyed his commands. After being confronted by the pastor about not really be a blacksmith, the manager replied, "This man here is mentally handicapped, and for all he knows, he's pounding it into nothing. But I am turning it into a work of art."

History should not just be perceived as just politics and the military. it involves the whole realm of human expression and human experience. And to leave out music, art, literature, architecture, dance, poetry, drama is to leave out not just color and flavor and sound, but a lot of the soul of a culture. Many civilizations are known only for their art.

That's all as much a part of the American reality and the American story as our expected protagonists of history. In this one performance we have musicians, dancers, people speaking great literature, singing, architecture, all working at once. And we should never ever take it for granted.

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.

Love is like a painting. You have a mirage of colors, but only certain ones will build the whole picture. You can create a number of pieces, but only one will ever strike you as a masterpiece. Sometimes, our masterpieces are lost. And while many of our other paintings are beautiful and serene, perfect and splendid, we can't simply forget our masterpiece.

[Abstract art is] a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.

Precision instruments are designed to achieve an idea, dimensional precision, where perfection is impossible. There is no perfectly shaped part of the motorcycle and never will be, but when you come as close as these instruments take you, remarkable things happen, and you go flying across the countryside under a power that would be called magic if it were not so completely rational in every way.

I must study politics and war that my sons (and daughters) may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons (and daughters) ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and percelain.