Michelangelo

1475–1564 · Artist and poet

Michelangelo's career ranged from sculpture to the Sistine Chapel ceiling and architectural commissions. His letters also show him guarding his name and family's social standing, including his objection to being addressed as a shopkeeping craftsman.

Traced to source

4 quotes we’ve traced to Michelangelo

“Beauty is the purgation of superfluities”

Attributed

“Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle”

Attributed

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it”

Disputed

“I was never the kind of painter or sculptor who kept a shop”

Disputed

Not actually Michelangelo

Often misattributed to Michelangelo

Famous lines widely pinned on Michelangelo that we’ve traced to someone else.

“Ancora imparo. (I am still learning.)”

actually Anonymous

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free”

actually Unknown

“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all”

actually Unknown

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it”

actually Unknown

“What do you despise? By this you are truly known”

actually Frank Herbert

“You Just Chip Away Everything That Doesn't Look Like David”

actually Unknown — the joke is anonymous

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