Quotes by Benjamin Haydon

Benjamin Haydon

Benjamin Haydon

British artist

Lived from: 1786 - 1846

Category: Artists Country: FlagUnited Kingdom

Born: 26 january 1786 Died: 22 june 1846

  • There surely is in human nature an inherent propensity to extract all the good out of all the evil.
  • No man, perhaps, is so wicked as to commit evil for its own sake. Evil is generally committed under the hope of some advantage the pursuit of virtue seldom obtains. Yet the most successful result of the most virtuous heroism is never without its alloy.
  • Men who have reached and passed forty-five, have a look as if waiting for the secret of the other world, and as if they were perfectly sure of having found out the secret of this.
  • Mistrusts sometimes come over one's mind of the justice of God. But let a real misery come again, and to whom do we fly? To whom do we instinctively and immediately look up?
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Quotes 1 till 20 of 26.

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  • All government is an evil, but, of the two form's of that evil, democracy or monarchy, the sounder is monarchy; the more able to do its will, democracy.
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  • Art is a reality, not a definition; inasmuch as it approaches a reality, it approaches perfection, and inasmuch as it approaches a mere definition, it is imperfect and untrue.
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  • Beware of the beginnings of vice. Do not delude yourself with the belief that it can be argued against in the presence of the exciting cause. Nothing but actual flight can save you.
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  • Danger is the very basis of superstition. It produces a searching after help supernaturally when human means are no longer supposed to be available.
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  • Do your duty, and don't swerve from it. Do that which your conscience tells you to be right, and leave the consequences to God.
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  • Genius in poverty is never feared, because nature, though liberal in her gifts in one instance, is forgetful in another.
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  • Genius is nothing more than our common faculties refined to a greater intensity. There are no astonishing ways of doing astonishing things. All astonishing things are done by ordinary materials.
    Benjamin Robert Haydon: Correspondence and Table-talk, Volume 2 (Chatto and Windus, 1876), p. 311
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  • If men would only take the chances of doing right because it is right, instead of the immediate certainty of the advantage of doing wrong, how much happier would their lives be.
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  • It is highly convenient to believe in the infinite mercy of God when you feel the need of mercy, but remember also His infinite justice.
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  • Men of genius are often considered superstitious, but the fact is, the fineness of their nerve renders them more alive to the supernatural than ordinary men.
    ― Benjamin Haydon
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  • Men who have reached and passed forty-five, have a look as if waiting for the secret of the other world, and as if they were perfectly sure of having found out the secret of this.
    ― Benjamin Haydon
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  • Mistrusts sometimes come over one's mind of the justice of God. But let a real misery come again, and to whom do we fly? To whom do we instinctively and immediately look up?
    ― Benjamin Haydon
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  • Never disregard what your enemies say. They may be severe, they may be prejudiced, they may be determined to see only in one direction, but still in that direction see clearly. They do not speak all the truth, but they generally speak the truth from one point of view; so far as that goes, attend to them.
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  • Never suffer youth to be an excuse for inadequacy, nor age and fame to be an excuse for indolence.
    ― Benjamin Haydon
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  • No man, perhaps, is so wicked as to commit evil for its own sake. Evil is generally committed under the hope of some advantage the pursuit of virtue seldom obtains. Yet the most successful result of the most virtuous heroism is never without its alloy.
    ― Benjamin Haydon
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  • One of the surest evidences of an elevated taste is the power of enjoying works of impassioned terrorism, in poetry, and painting. The man who can look at impassioned subjects of terror with a feeling of exultation may be certain he has an elevated taste.
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  • Some persons are so devotional they have not one bit of true religion in them.
    ― Benjamin Haydon
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  • The explanation of the propensity of the English people to portrait painting is to be found in their relish for a Fact. Let a man do the grandest things, fight the greatest battles, or be distinguished by the most brilliant personal heroism, yet the English people would prefer his portrait to a painting of the great deed. The likeness they can judge of; his existence is a Fact. But the truth of the picture of his deeds they cannot judge of, for they have no imagination.
    ― Benjamin Haydon
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  • The great difficulty is first to win a reputation; the next to keep it while you live; and the next to preserve it after you die, when affection and interest are over, and nothing but sterling excellence can preserve your name. Never suffer youth to be an excuse for inadequacy, nor age and fame to be an excuse for indolence.
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  • The greatest geniuses have always attributed everything to God, as if conscious of being possessed of a spark of His divinity.
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What are the most famous quotes from Benjamin Haydon?

The two most famous quotes from Benjamin Haydon are:

  • "All government is an evil, but, of the two form's of that evil, democracy or monarchy, the sounder is monarchy; the more able to do its will, democracy."
  • "Art is a reality, not a definition; inasmuch as it approaches a reality, it approaches perfection, and inasmuch as it approaches a mere definition, it is imperfect and untrue."

When did Benjamin Haydon live?

Benjamin Haydon was born in 1786 and died in the year 1846.