"The artist is the most important origin of a work, but the hands through which it passes are essential to the way in which it accrues value"

- Sarah Thornton

Source: Thornton, Sarah. Seven Days in the Art World. 2008. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-393-06722-4. pp. 10.

"Even the most businesslike dealers will tell you that making money should be a byoproduct of art, not an artist's main goal. Art needs motives that are more profound than profit if is is to maintain its difference from - and position above - other cultural forms"

- Sarah Thornton

Source: Thornton, Sarah. Seven Days in the Art World. 2008. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-393-06722-4. pp. xvi-xvii.

"Despite its self-regard, and much like a society of devout followers, the art world relies on consensus as heavily as it depends on individual analysis or critical thinking. Althought the art world reveres the unconventional, it is rife with conformity. Artists make works that "looks like art" and behave in ways that enhance stereotypes. (...) Originality is not always rewarded, but some people take real risks and innovate, which gives a raison d'être to the rest"

- Sarah Thornton

Source: Thornton, Sarah. Seven Days in the Art World. 2008. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-393-06722-4. pp. xiv-xv.

"(...) contemporary art has become a kind of alternative religion for atheists. (...) For many art world insiders and art aficionados of other kinds, concept-driven art is a kind of existencial channel through which they bring meaning to their lives. It demands leaps of faith, but it rewards the believer with a sense of consequence. Moreover, just as churches and other ritualistic meeting places serve a social function, so art events generate a sense of community around shared interests"

- Sarah Thornton

Source: Thornton, Sarah. Seven Days in the Art World. 2008. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-393-06722-4. pp. xiv.

"The function of museums is to make art worthless again. They take the work out of the market and put it in a place where it becomes part of the common wealth"

- Robert Storr, curator.

Source: Robert Storr quoed in Thornton, Sarah. Seven Days in the Art World. 2008. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-393-06722-4. pp. xiv.

"If the art world shared one principle, it would probably be that nothing is more important than the art itself. Some people really believe this; others know it's de rigueur. Either way, the social world surrounding art is often disdained as an irrelevant, dirty contaminant"

- Sarah Thornton

Source: Thornton, Sarah. Seven Days in the Art World. 2008. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-393-06722-4. pp. xiii.

"Artists have huge egos, but how that manifests itself changes with times. I find it tedious when I bump into people who insists on giving me their CV highlights. I've always thought that wearing badges or ribbons would solve it. if you're showing in the Whitney Biennial or at the Tate, you could announce it on your jacket. Artists could wear stripes like generals, so everyone would know their rank"

- John Baldessari, artist.

Source: John Baldessari, quoted in Thornton, Sarah. Seven Days in the Art World. 2008. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-393-06722-4. pp. xiii.

"Although the art world is frequently characterized as a classless scene (...) you'd be mistaken if you thought this world was egalitarian or democratic. Art is about experimentation and ideas, but it is also about excellence and exclusion"

- Sarah Thornton

Source: Thornton, Sarah. Seven Days in the Art World. 2008. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-393-06722-4. pp. xii.