Agnes Martin Quotes

Doing what you were born to do … That's the way to be happy.

My paintings are not about what is seen. They are about what is known forever in the mind.

Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.

When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye it is in the mind. In our minds there is awareness of perfection.

Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye, it is in the mind.

When you look in your mind you find it covered with a lot of rubbishy thoughts. You have to penetrate these and hear what your mind is telling you to do. Such work is original work.

It's through discipline and tremendous disappointment and failure that you arrive at what it is you must paint.

I'm very careful not to have ideas, because they're inaccurate.

Inspiration is there all the time. For everyone whose mind is not clouded over with thoughts whether they realize it or not.

That which takes us by surprise-moments of happiness-that is inspiration.

I often paint tranquility. If you stop thinking and rest, then a little happiness comes into your mind. At perfect rest you are comfortable.

The adventurous state of mind is a high house... The joy of adventure is unaccountable. This is the attractiveness of artwork. It is adventurous, strenuous and joyful.

The enormous pitfall is devotion to oneself instead of to life. All works that are self-devoted are absolutely ineffective.

The worst thing you can think about when you're working is yourself.

Happiness is being on the beam with life - to feel the pull of life

My paintings are certainly nonobjective. They're just horizontal lines. There's not any hint of nature. And still everybody responds, I think.

Anything can be painted without representation.

Fulfill your potential. That's the way to happiness.

I paint with my back to the world

I used to meditate until I learned to stop thinking.

It is commonly thought that everything that is can be put into words.

What we really want to do is serve happiness. We want everyone to be happy, never unhappy even for a moment. We want the animals to be happy. The happiness of every living thing is what we want.

Pollock was terrific. I think he freed himself of all kinds of worry about this world. Ran around and dripped, and then he managed to express ecstasy.

You can't make a perfect painting. We can see perfection in our minds. But we can't make a perfect painting.

What I say is that we're capable of a transcendent response, and I think it makes us happy. And I do think beauty produces a transcendent response.

People who look at my painting say that it makes them happy, like the feeling when you wake up in the morning. And happiness is the goal, isn't it?