Quotes by Edouard Manet

• No one can be a painter unless he cares for painting above all else.
• There is only one true thing: instantly paint what you see. When you've got it, you've got it. When you haven't, you begin again. All the rest is humbug.
• This woman's work is exceptional. Too bad she's not a man.
• There are no lines in nature, only areas of colour, one against another.
• The attacks of which I have been the object have broken the spring of life in me... People don't realize what it feels like to be constantly insulted.
• Insults are pouring down on me as thick as hail.
• I would kiss you, had I the courage.
• I need to work to feel well.
• Color is a matter of taste and of sensitivity.
• Black is not a color.
• You would hardly believe how difficult it is to place a figure alone on a canvas, and to concentrate all the interest on this single and universal figure and still keep it living and real.
• It is not enough to know your craft - you have to have feeling. Science is all very well, but for us imagination is worth far more.