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Who really said it

If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced

Attributed to Vincent van Gogh 1853–1890 · Dutch post-Impressionist painter
Attributed Rights unconfirmed

Van Gogh really did write this — in Dutch, to his brother Theo, from Drenthe on 28 October 1883 (Van Gogh Museum letter 400; Complete Letters 336), and Quote Investigator credits him for it ↗. The English wording that circulates, though, matches none of the published translations on record: the renderings QI collects have the voice say ‘you are no painter’ or ‘You are not a painter,’ address Theo as ‘lad’ or ‘boy,’ and finish ‘but only by working.’

Last verified 7 Aug 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Unconfirmed quote & credit

“If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced” Vincent van Gogh, letter to his brother Theo, Drenthe, 28 October 1883 (Van Gogh Museum letter 400; Complete Letters 336). The familiar English is a shortened rendering — the published translation reads: "If you hear a voice within you saying, 'You are not a painter,' then by all means paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working." — via Quotle.info

Can you use it?

We couldn’t establish where this was first published, so there’s no rights status to give. Credit it as shown above — just don’t present it as public domain, and get permission for commercial or published reuse.

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In context

Evoking the world of Vincent van Gogh — Dutch post-Impressionist painter. Theme: "If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The letter to Theo

Work
Letter to Theo van Gogh
Written
Nieuw-Amsterdam, Drenthe — Sunday, 28 October 1883
Numbering
Van Gogh Museum letter 400 · Complete Letters 336
Translation
The Complete Letters first edition (Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1958) was translated by Mrs. J. van Gogh-Bonger and C. de Dood; the text quoted here is the webexhibits transcription, credited ‘trans. Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, ed. Robert Harrison’ — the Bulfinch Press reissue (Boston, 1991). The popular English wording matches neither this nor the 1927 rendering.

“If you hear a voice within you saying, ‘You are not a painter,’ then by all means paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working.”

The Dutch as Van Gogh wrote it: “Als iets in U zelf zegt ‘gij zijt geen schilder’ — SCHILDER DAN JUIST kerel, en die stem bedaart ook, maar slechts daardoor.” Complete Letters 336

The English above is the wording carried in The Complete Letters ↗. The final clause — “but only by working” — is the part the internet version drops.

Letter 336 to Theo, Drenthe, 28 October 1883

How we verified this

  • Van Gogh wrote the line in Dutch to Theo from Drenthe on 28 October 1883; it appears as letter 336 in The Complete Letters ↗, in the translation by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger edited by Robert Harrison.
  • Quote Investigator ↗ traced the saying and concluded that Van Gogh deserves credit for it, quoting his Dutch original and noting that “a few different English translations are circulating.”
  • QI records the 1927 English edition (Constable & Company) as “you are no painter … then paint by all means, lad,” the 1958 New York Graphic Society Complete Letters as “You are not a painter … then by all means paint, boy,” and a third rendering carried in the 1983 edition of Brenda Ueland’s If You Want to Write, which follows the 1927 wording. All three end ‘but only by working’ ↗.
  • The letters reached print through Theo’s widow: Johanna van Gogh-Bonger published them in full in January 1914 ↗, which is the root of every English version that followed.

The underlying material is old: Van Gogh’s 1883 Dutch letter is long out of copyright, and the 1927 English translation that Quote Investigator cites ↗ was published before 1931 and so is public domain in the United States. But the exact wording on this page matches neither that translation nor the later New York Graphic Society one, so no identifiable translator or edition can be attached to it — we assert no rights status for this particular sentence.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

Right painter, wrong sentence

This is not a case of a quote pinned on a famous name that never said it. Van Gogh wrote it. What travelled is a loosened English rendering that quietly changed three things.

“you cannot paint” Reworded

None of the published translations on record puts it that way. QI records “you are no painter” (1927) and “You are not a painter” (1958) ↗ — both an attack on identity rather than on ability.

“but only by working” Dropped

Both standard translations close on that clause; the Complete Letters text ends “and that voice will be silenced, but only by working” ↗. Cutting it turns a remark about labour into a remark about nerve.

“boy” / “lad” Trimmed

Van Gogh was writing privately to his brother, the man paying for his paint. Theo gave him financial and emotional support throughout his life ↗; the motivational-poster version removes the person being addressed.

Van Gogh did say it, on 28 October 1883 — and what he actually told Theo was that the doubting voice goes quiet only through the work itself, a condition the popular version leaves out. See Quote Investigator’s tracing ↗.

Context

Written by a man with every reason to quit

Van Gogh had turned to art in earnest only around 1880–81, on Theo’s suggestion that he take it up seriously. In September 1883 he moved to Drenthe, a poor peat-cutting region in the northern Netherlands, and by December loneliness had driven him back to his parents’ house. This letter was written from Nieuw-Amsterdam in Drenthe on 28 October, in the middle of that stretch.

So the sentence is not a slogan about confidence. It is a man barely two or three years into painting, dependent on his brother’s money, telling himself — and telling Theo — that the only answer to the voice saying you are not a painter is to keep working. The clause the internet drops is the whole argument.

The doubting voice, he told Theo, goes quiet only through the work.

Read the full story

The path from Dutch letter to English poster runs through the family. Theo’s widow, Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, published the letters in full in January 1914; an English edition of the letters to Theo followed from Constable & Company in 1927, which is the rendering Quote Investigator quotes first.

The version most people have read comes from The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, published by the New York Graphic Society (QI dates the translation to 1958; the Internet Archive holds a three-volume New York Graphic Society printing dated 1978). That first edition credits the translation to Mrs. J. van Gogh-Bonger and C. de Dood; the webexhibits transcription quoted on this page instead carries the credit of the Bulfinch Press reissue (Boston, 1991) — translated by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, edited by Robert Harrison.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Creativity Courage Doubt

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Origin: If You Hear a Voice Within You Say, ‘You Cannot Paint’quoteinvestigator.com

The anchor investigation: the Dutch original, the 1927 and 1958 English translations side by side, and QI’s conclusion that Van Gogh deserves credit.
Letter 336 to Theo van Gogh, Drenthe, 28 October 1883webexhibits.org

The full letter in the Complete Letters translation, with the passage in its surrounding paragraph.
The complete letters of Vincent van Gogh (3 vols.)archive.org

The New York Graphic Society three-volume edition, with reproductions of all the drawings in the correspondence.
The Letters of Vincent van Goghen.wikipedia.org

Publication history: Johanna van Gogh-Bonger’s complete Dutch edition of January 1914 and the 2009 Thames & Hudson annotated edition.
Vincent van Goghen.wikipedia.org

Life dates, the 1883 move to Drenthe, Theo’s support, and the scale of the correspondence — more than 600 letters to Theo.
Vincent van Gogh — sourced quotationsen.wikiquote.org

Wikiquote’s collection of Van Gogh quotations drawn from his letters across the 1870s–1890s, useful for comparing translations.

The painter

Who was Vincent van Gogh?

Vincent van Gogh

1853–1890 · Dutch post-Impressionist painter

Vincent van Gogh (born 30 March 1853, died 29 July 1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter who came to art late and worked at it ferociously, taking it up in earnest only around 1880–81 at his brother Theo’s urging. Theo, an art dealer, supported him financially and emotionally for the rest of his life, and the brothers exchanged letters from 1872 until 1890 — more than 600 from Vincent survive. Those letters, published by Theo’s widow after both men were dead, are the reason we can read Van Gogh arguing himself out of despair in real time.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, Nieuw-Amsterdam (Drenthe), 28 October 1883; Van Gogh Museum letter 400, numbered 336 in The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh, trans. J. van Gogh-Bonger and C. de Dood (Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1958): "If you hear a voice within you saying, 'You are not a painter,' then by all means paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working." Text as transcribed by webexhibits.org from the Bulfinch Press reissue, ed. Robert Harrison (Boston: Little, Brown, 1991).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced’?” Last verified 7 Aug 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/if-you-hear-a-voice-within-you-say-you-cannot-paint-then-by/

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