It's no secret that I'm obsessed with Vincent van Gogh. Heck, I love him so much I got Starry Night tattooed this summer. But my love for him is for a greater reason than his relentlessly aesthetically pleasing works—it's for the man he was. To me, Vincent van Gogh shows that a person with mental illness can be kind, compassionate, and create some of the greatest wonders of the world.
Additionally, Van Gogh was much more than his visual works—he wrote hundreds of letters to his brother that have since been published. The quotes from these letters are some of the most profound things I've ever read, and everyone should have access to reading them. So I've compiled some of the best Vincent van Gogh quotes for you to read for any and every occasion
1. For when you're feeling a lot of emotions
"The heart of man is very much like the sea: it has storms, it has tides, and in its depths it has its pearls too."
2. For when you're feeling worthless
"If I am worth anything later, I am worth something now. For wheat is wheat, even if people think it's grass in the beginning."
3. For when you're feeling the pressure to be normal
"Normality is a paved road: it's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it."
4. For when you love love
"There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people."
5. For when your tasks seem overwhelming
Giphy"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."
6. For when you feel like you can't
"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced."
7. For when you've fallen down again
"In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing."
8. For when you're struggling with fitting in and mental health
"What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart. That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion. Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum."
9. For when you love your friends
"Close friends are truly life's treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone."
10. For when you're determined
"I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart."
11. For when you're ready to try something new
"I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it."
12. For when you're uncertain
"For I know of nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream."
Van Gogh holds such a special place in my own heart, and I hope that these quotes have let him into yours as well.
