Georgia O’Keeffe Quotes

I said to myself, I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me – shapes and ideas so near to me – so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn’t occurred to me to put them down. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for. – Georgia O’Keeffe

The days you work are the best days. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me – shapes and ideas so near to me – so natural to my way of being and thinking. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I have but one desire as a painter – that is to make people feel what I feel. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I know I am an artist, and that is enough. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me – shapes and ideas so near to me. – Georgia O’Keeffe

To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I believe in being an artist, not a message bearer. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I feel there is something unexplored about women that only a woman can explore. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I decided to make a painting that was nothing but flowers. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I have always been in my own world, and I’m happy in it. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I had been taught to work like the artists worked, without questioning what I was doing. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of ‘work,’ because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don’t always want to do. Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I can’t live where I want to. I can’t go where I want to go. I can’t do what I want to. I can’t even say what I want to. I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I think it’s so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary. You’re happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I just happened to start to see things that no one else could see. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I think it takes a lot of courage to say, ‘I don’t know the answer.’ – Georgia O’Keeffe

Men put me down as the best woman painter. I think I’m one of the best painters. – Georgia O’Keeffe

Nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time. – Georgia O’Keeffe

There is something about the human eye – nobody has ever written a recipe for it. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I can’t live where I want to live. I can’t go where I want to go. I can’t do what I want to do. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I take painting seriously. I take what I do seriously. I do it passionately. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I feel there is something very beautiful in my mind and if other people can’t see it, well, it’s up to them. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I can’t live where I want to. I can’t go where I want to go. I can’t do what I want to. I can’t even say what I want to. – Georgia O’Keeffe

To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I have but one desire as a painter – that is to make people feel what I feel. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me – shapes and ideas so near to me – so natural to my way of being and thinking – that it hasn’t occurred to me to put them down. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I think it’s so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary–you’re happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous. – Georgia O’Keeffe

It is not enough for me to paint what I see. It is my dream to create what I feel. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I know I am an artist. If I can make someone else feel what I feel, then I have achieved something. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I have been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I have never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I don’t care what people do or what they say, but it gives me pleasure to go somewhere where nobody knows me. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life – and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do. – Georgia O’Keeffe

When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for that moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not. – Georgia O’Keeffe

It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis, that we get at the real meaning of things. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I often lay on that bench looking up into the tree, past the trunk and up into the branches. It was particularly fine at night with the stars above the tree. – Georgia O’Keeffe

I wanted to get away from everything. – Georgia O’Keeffe

In a way nobody sees a flower, really, it is so small, we haven’t time and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time. – Georgia O’Keeffe

Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest. – Georgia O’Keeffe

A flower is relatively small. Everyone has many associations with a flower – the idea of flowers. You put out your hand to touch the flower – lean forward to smell it – maybe touch it with your lips almost without thinking – or give it to someone to please them. Still – in a way – nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time. – Georgia O’Keeffe