# The most beautiful quotes from Van Gogh's letters

Finding things beautiful, painting the stars when he needed religion and great things made of small things brought together: the most quoted lines from Vincent van Gogh's letters, mostly to his brother Theo, with the date they were written.

- 144 votes · 13 items
- Dec 8, 2020 · otaku_nyc
- https://even.best/en/l/5052/the-most-beautiful-quotes-from-van-gogh-s-letters

## Top 13

1. **Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful.** (17 · ▲18 ▼1) — Letter to his brother Theo, January 1874.
2. **The more I think it over, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.** (11 · ▲14 ▼3) — Letter to his brother Theo, Arles, 18 September 1888.
3. **The financier is the desolation of the artist.** (11 · ▲12 ▼1) — Letter to his brother Theo, 1884, written in French.
4. **One must learn to read, just as one must learn to see and learn to live.** (9 · ▲11 ▼2) — Letter to his brother Theo, Cuesmes, July 1880.
5. **Always continue walking a lot and loving nature, for that's the real way to learn to understand art better and better.** (9 · ▲10 ▼1) — Letter to his brother Theo, January 1874.
6. **Do you know what makes the prison disappear? Every deep, genuine affection.** (9 · ▲10 ▼1) — Letter to his brother Theo, Cuesmes, July 1880.
7. **The best way to know God is to love many things.** (7 · ▲9 ▼2) — Letter to his brother Theo, Cuesmes, July 1880.
8. **Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.** (7 · ▲7 ▼0) — Letter to his brother Theo, The Hague, 18 March 1883.
9. **Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.** (6 · ▲7 ▼1) — Letter to his brother Theo, The Hague, 22 October 1882.
10. **I've got nature and art and poetry, and if that isn't enough, what is?** (5 · ▲8 ▼3) — Letter to his brother Theo, January 1874.
11. **What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?** (4 · ▲7 ▼3) — Letter to his brother Theo, The Hague, 29 December 1881.
12. **When I have a terrible need of — shall I say the word — religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.** (2 · ▲4 ▼2) — Letter to his brother Theo, Arles, September 1888.
13. **There is no blue without yellow and without orange, and if you put in blue, then you must put in yellow, and orange too, mustn't you?** (-1 · ▲3 ▼4) — Letter to Émile Bernard, June 1888.

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