The Best Norman Rockwell quotes

Commonplaces never become tiresome. It is we who become tired when we cease to be curious and appreciative. We find that it is not a new scene which is needed, but a new viewpoint. — Norman Rockwell

I’m not going to be caught around here for any fool celebration. To hell with birthdays! — Norman Rockwell

I had a couple of million dollars’ worth of… stock once. And now it’s not worth much more than wallpaper. I guess I just wasn’t born to be rich. — Norman Rockwell

If there was sadness in this creative world of mine, it was a pleasant sadness. If there were problems, they were humorous problems. — Norman Rockwell

If a picture wasn’t going very well, I’d put a puppy in it. — Norman Rockwell

The story is the first thing and the last thing. — Norman Rockwell

My great hero was that archetype of cheerful American normalcy, Norman Rockwell. — John Lithgow

Right from the beginning, I always strived to capture everything I saw as completely as possible. — Norman Rockwell

A face in the picture would bother me, so I’d rub it out with the turpentine and do it over. — Norman Rockwell

I know of no painless process for giving birth to a picture idea. When I must produce, I retire to a quiet room with a supply of cheap paper and sharp pencils; my brain knows it’s going to take a beating. — Norman Rockwell

I just wanted to do something important. — Norman Rockwell

My best efforts were some modern things that looked like very lousy Matisses. Thank God I had the sense to realize they were lousy, and leave Paris. — Norman Rockwell

I paint life as I would like it to be. — Norman Rockwell

Some folks think I painted Lincoln from life, but I haven’t been around that long. Not quite. — Norman Rockwell

I can take a lot of pats on the back. I love it when I get admiring letters from people. And, of course, I’d love it if the critics would notice me, too. — Norman Rockwell

The view of life I communicate in my pictures excludes the sordid and ugly. I paint life as I would like it to be. — Norman Rockwell

I’ll never have enough time to paint all the pictures I’d like to. — Norman Rockwell

No man with a conscience can just bat out illustrations. He’s got to put all his talent and feeling into them! — Norman Rockwell

It wouldn’t be right for me to clown around when I’m painting a president. — Norman Rockwell

I keep the pornographic stuff in a bus station locker. — Norman Rockwell

Everyone in those days expected that art students were wild, licentious characters. We didn’t know how to be, but we sure were anxious to learn. — Norman Rockwell

I learned to draw everything except glamorous women. No matter how much I tried to make them look sexy, they always ended up looking silly… or like somebody’s mother. — Norman Rockwell

You must first spend some time getting your model to relax. Then you’ll get a natural expression. — Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell saved my life. — Jane Allen Petrick

I work from fatigue to fatigue at my age there’s only so much daylight left. — Norman Rockwell

I didn’t know what to expect from a famous movie star; maybe that he’d be sort of stuck–up, you know. But not Gary Cooper. He horsed around so much… that I had a hard time painting him. — Norman Rockwell

Very interesting for an old duffer like me to try his hand at something new. If I don’t do that once in a while, I might just turn into a fossil, you know! — Norman Rockwell

Travel is like a tonic to me. It’s more than just getting away from the studio for a brief rest. I need it to recharge my batteries. — Norman Rockwell