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People who take things too literally don't get much of anything from my teaching. By never saying anything I mean, I say a great deal. I never mean anything I say under oath. I never mean exactly what I say. Not even this. You have to read between the words.

— John Sloan The Gist of Art (1939)

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Source: In John Sloan on Drawing and Painting. Mineola NY: Dover Publications, 2000. Originally published in 1939 as The Gist of Art, p. 7.
Work: The Gist of Art, 1939
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

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Then there is this idea that the world owes you a living. Here is a little thought about that. It isn't particularly logical but it makes my point. You were paid when you were born, with the privilege of living. Death is all that is coming to you. Life came to you when you were born.

The Gist of Art (1939)

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It takes a great deal of strong personality to survive the art school training. Hard nuts that the art schools can't crack and devour get through and become artists.

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I have nothing to teach you that will help you to make a living. [as art teacher, advising his students]

The idea of taking up art as a calling, a profession, is a mirage. Art enriches life. It makes life worth living. But to make a living at it—that idea is incompatible with making art.

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[choosing his scenes by:] ..night vigils at the back window.

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[on w:Diego Rivera:] ..the one artist on this continent who is in the class of the old masters.

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