Michelangelo quotes

Born
Buonarroti Simoni 6 March 1475 Caprese near Arezzo, Republic of Florence.

Died
18 February 1564.

Occupation
Sculptor, painter, architect.

Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance born in the Republic of Florence, who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art.

I cannot live under pressures from patrons, let alone paint
– Michelangelo

Death and love are the two wings that bear the good man to heaven.
– Michelangelo

It is well with me only when I have a chisel in my hand.
– Michelangelo

The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image.
– Michelangelo

I live in sin, to kill myself I live; no longer my life my own, but sin’s; my good is given to me by heaven, my evil by myself, by my free will, of which I am deprived.
– Michelangelo

I am still learning.
– Michelangelo

What do you despise? By this you are truly known.
– Michelangelo

Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.
– Michelangelo

Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.
– Michelangelo

A beautiful thing never gives so much pain as does failing to hear and see it.
– Michelangelo

The more the marbles wastes, the more the statue grows.
– Michelangelo

Genius is eternal patience.
– Michelangelo

The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.
– Michelangelo

If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.
– Michelangelo

Good painting is the kind that looks like sculpture.
– Michelangelo

Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.
– Michelangelo

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
– Michelangelo

I have never felt salvation in nature. I love cities above all.
– Michelangelo

Faith in oneself is the best and safest course.
– Michelangelo

The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has.
– Michelangelo

The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.
– Michelangelo

From such a gentle thing, from such a fountain of all delight, my every pain is born.
– Michelangelo

Even if you are divine, you don’t disdain male consorts.
– Michelangelo

A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.
– Michelangelo

My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth’s loveliness.
– Michelangelo

There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.
– Michelangelo

Carving is easy, you just go down to the skin and stop.
– Michelangelo