Quotations by:
    Reynolds, Joshua


The great business of study is to form a mind adapted and adequate to all times and all occasions; to which all nature is then laid open, and which may be said to possess the key of her inexhaustible riches.

Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) British painter, critic
“Discourse Eleven” (10 Dec 1782)
 
Added on 15-Jan-15 | Last updated 15-Jan-15
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , , , ,
More quotes by Reynolds, Joshua

The real character of a man is found out by his amusements.

Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) British painter, critic
(Attributed)

In Samuel Arthur Bent, Short Sayings of Great Men (1882).
 
Added on 19-Mar-13 | Last updated 19-Mar-13
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Reynolds, Joshua

A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts.

Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) British painter, critic
(Attributed)
    (Source)

Quoted in Bolster's Quarterly Magazine (Jul 1827)
 
Added on 17-Jun-14 | Last updated 17-Jun-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , ,
More quotes by Reynolds, Joshua

In the practice of art, as well as in morals, it is necessary to keep a watchful and jealous eye over ourselves; idleness, assuming the specious disguise of industry, will lull to sleep all suspicion of our want of an active exertion of strength. A provision of endless apparatus, a bustle of infinite enquiry and research, or even the mere mechanical labour of copying, may be employed, to evade and shuffle off real labour, — the real labour of thinking.

Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) British painter, critic
Speech to the Royal Academy, London (10 Dec 1784)
    (Source)

Paraphrased over a long period of time (and still attributed to Reynolds) as: "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking."

The lecture was later described as the Twelfth Discourse in a 1797 collection of Reynolds' works.

Often attributed to Thomas Edison. More information here.

 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 23-May-14
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , , ,
More quotes by Reynolds, Joshua

If you have great talents, industry will improve them: if you have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency.

Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) British painter, critic
Speech to the Royal Academy, London (11 Dec 1769)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
Link to this post | No comments
More quotes by Reynolds, Joshua