My Favorite Quotes: March 2015

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Time Lost and Regained

Memory is a way of holding onto the things we once loved and we never want to lose. How often have we felt the need to go back in time to examine where we have come from and where we are going to? Don't we all need to figure out what we have done so far and where our journeys have brought us now?

To live means to perceive and acknowledge the different conflicting stages of our lives. Each one of us might have experienced some kind of loss: loss of loved ones, loss of friendship or some material loss. Regaining our lost time is to remember with patience, with clarity and with quietness of the heart. Regaining our lost time is to learn, grow and change. The challenge of life is to overcome our problems, to look back with gratefulness and forward with positiveness.

This post depicts our lives dynamics through some selected quotations from Marcel Proust (1871-1922).

Remembrance

Artwork by Henri Lebasque

“Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.” ― Marcel Proust

artwork by August Macke

“Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have of them.” ― Marcel Proust

Cliffs and Sailboats at Pourville by Claude Monet

“The true paradises are the paradises that we have lost.” ― Marcel Proust

The Suffering

artwork by Pablo Picasso

“It is often hard to bear the tears that we ourselves have caused.” ― Marcel Proust

The Healing Process

artwork by Pablo Picasso

“We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full.” ― Marcel Proust

Lessons Learned

Autumn Contemplation by Lynn Sanguedolce

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ― Marcel Proust

Artwork by Henri Lebasque

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust

The Cliff Walk by Claude Monet

“Always try to keep a patch of sky above your life.” ― Marcel Proust

Fir Trees by Emile Nolde

“Now are the woods all black,

But still the sky is blue.”― Marcel Proust

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

"Creativity takes courage"

"Creativity takes courage" said Henri Matisse. Indeed, one has to be bold enough to create something new and display it without fearing the scrutiny of others. Any artwork that follows the norms defeats its purpose, as it is above all an adventure of the mind, a beauty created out of chaos. Another pertinent line from Matisse: "An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success."

I truly believe that one of the things which makes the world we live in enjoyable is a perfect work of art. Countless beautiful pieces have been created by the following famous artists, of which only a few are depicted below.

Artwork by Henri Matisse

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them."― Henri Matisse

"View of Murnau" by Kandinsky

"Art is not vague production, transitory and isolated, but a power which must be directed to the improvement and refinement of the human soul."― Wassily Kandinsky

"Noon Landscape" by Nicolas de Staël

"You never paint what you see or think you see. You paint with a thousand vibrations the blow that has struck you: how can you be struck and not cry out in anger?" ―Nicholas de Stael