Our Collection of Observation Quotes
“I am a camera with its shutter open, quite passive, recording, not thinking.”
Christopher Isherwood
“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”
Marcus Aurelius
“All of us are watchers – of television, of time clocks, of traffic on the freeway – but few are observers. Everyone is looking, not many are seeing.”
Peter M. Leschak
“Observation, not old age, brings wisdom.”
Publilius Syrus
“The most satisfying and most basic art experience is looking – pure, unmediated observation and sensation.”
Roy Thurston
“The faculty of creating is never given to us all by itself. It always goes hand in hand with the gift of observation.”
Igor Stravinsky
“Seeing is the consequence of optics; observing is the consequence of imaginative contemplation.”
Ian Semple
“Art demands constant observation.”
Vincent van Gogh
“Accuracy of observation is the equivalent of accuracy of thinking.”
Wallace Stevens
“There is no more difficult art to acquire than the art of observation, and for some men it is quite as difficult to record an observation in brief and plain language.”
Sir William Osler
“Sometimes it is the quiet observer who sees the most.”
Kathryn L. Nelson
“The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.”
George Bernard Shaw
“You can observe a lot by just watching.”
Yogi Berra
“There are no secrets, no formulas. It’s just a matter of looking carefully.”
Colin Poole
“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.”
Pablo Picasso
“Do stuff. be clenched, curious. Not waiting for inspiration’s shove or society’s kiss on your forehead. Pay attention. It’s all about paying attention. attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. stay eager.”
Susan Sontag
“One can only see what one observes, and one observes only things which are already in the mind.”
Alphonse Bertillon
“To linger in the observation of things, other than the self, implies a profound conviction of their worth.”
Charles-Damian Boulogne
“Paying attention to the world around you will help you develop the extraordinary capacity to look at mundane things and see the miraculous.”
Michael Michalko
“A few observation and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning to truth.”
Alexis Carrel
“The child does not merely observe the world around him. He does not shut himself off from the strange, complicated world around him, but tastes it, touches it, hefts it, bends it, breaks it. To find out how reality works, he works on it.”
John Holt
“Observation and study are necessary to achieve mastery of light and form.”
Andrew Loomis
“Observe ‘what is’ with undivided awareness.”
Bruce Lee
“We cannot create observers by saying ‘observe’, but by giving them the power and the means for this observation and these means are procured through education of the senses.”
Maria Montessori
“A paradox is a seeming contradiction, always demanding a change on the side of the observer. If we look at almost all things honestly we see everything has a character of paradox to it. Everything, including ourselves.”
Richard Rohr
“Extreme observation serves artists very well – perhaps it is the best teacher.”
Cynde Roof
“To be able to observe with a stranger’s eye helps one to see with an artist’s eye. What alienates us inspires.”
Jean Rostand
“I made a promise to keep a watch over myself, to remain master of myself, so that I might become a sure observer.”
Paul Gauguin
“Facts have to be discovered by observation, not by reasoning.”
Bertrand Russell
“Observation is an old man’s memory.”
Jonathan Swift
“The observation of nature is part of an artist’s life, it enlarges his form and knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration.”
Henry Moore
“Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it ‘creative observation.”
William S. Burroughs
“Seeing artistically does not happen automatically. We must constantly develop our powers of observation.”
Eugene Delacroix
“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”
Mary Oliver
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What other observation quotes would you add to the list? Leave a comment!
[…] 35 Eye-Opening Quotes About Observing (To Become Better Flâneurs) […]
[…] That’s exactly how the flâneurs in 1840 Paris felt while parading up and down the streets with turtles on leashes. It helped enforce the pace necessary to slow down and truly observe. […]