Skip to content

An artist needs knowledge and the power of observation only so that he can tell from what he is abstaining, and to be sure that his abstention will not appear artificial or false.

— Andrei Tarkovsky

Another quote →

Topics

More quotes by Andrei Tarkovsky

Art is realistic when it strives to express an ethical ideal. Realism is striving for truth, and truth is always beautiful. Here the aesthetic coincides with the ethical.

Sculpting in Time (1986)

We know perfectly well that neither love nor peace of mind can be bought with any currency.

Sculpting in Time (1986)

Art symbolises the meaning of our existence.

Sculpting in Time (1986)

"Man is born unto the trouble as the sparks fly upwards." In other words suffering is germane to our existence; indeed, how without it, should we be able to "fly upwards".

Sculpting in Time (1986)

It is obvious that art cannot teach anyone anything, since in four thousand years humanity has learnt nothing at all.

Sculpting in Time (1986)

All Andrei Tarkovsky quotes →

You may also like

You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion.

Julian Assange

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

It is not in the books of the Philosophers, but in the religious symbolism of the Ancients, that we must look for the footprints of Science, and re-discover the Mysteries of Knowledge.

Albert Pike Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871)

Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.

Bertrand Russell

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Andrei Tarkovsky (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.