倪瓒生于无锡梅里祇陀村。祖父为本乡大地主，富甲一方，资雄乡里，享有种种特权。倪瓒从小得长兄抚养，生活极为舒适，无忧无虑，受到良好的家庭影响和教育，养成了他不同寻常的生活态度，清高孤傲，洁身自好，不问政治，浸习于诗文诗画之中，和儒家的人世理想迥异其趣。
青少年时期的倪瓒虽然家境富裕，生活优裕，但未染上纨绔子弟习气，对自身的学习修养，抓得挺紧。
48岁时，他开始信仰道教(全真教)，养成了超脱尘世逃避现实的思想，这种思想也反映到他的画上，作品呈现出苍凉古朴、静穆萧疏的意向。
他的作品个性鲜明，笔墨奇峭简拔，近景一脉土坡，傍植树木三五株，茅屋草亭一两座，中间上方空白以示淼淼的湖波、明朗的天宇，远处谈淡的山脉，画面静谧恬淡，境界旷远， 此种格调，前所未有。
董其昌从小学倪瓒的画．至老也未得到他悠淡之笔的真谛．
作为我们，能从倪瓒的精神中学到些什么？抛开金钱、权利、荣誉这些身外之物，保持一颗平静、淡雅的心，过轻松快乐的生活。
译文:
Edification from Ni Zan
Ni Zan was born at Qi Tuo Village of Mei Li in Wuxi. His grandfather was a local squire of wealth and enjoyed many privileges. Ni Zan was fostered by his big brother under comfortable environment, educated well and got sound influence from family. He lived carefreely. All these endowed him unusual living attitude. He was aloof, proud and preserved his own moral integrity. He never cared polity and contributed himself fully to poetry and drawing and out of the rule of Confucian living ideality.
Although Ni Zan spent richly during his youthhood, he never became a dude. He thought a lot of his study and culture.
At his age of 48, he had his belief in Taoism (also Quanzhenism) and cultivated his escapist thinking. This kind of thinking was also reflected into his paintings that extend to bleak with primitive simplicity, peaceful but desolate.
His works feature differently with special and simple writings. There were a hillock in close shot with several trees alongside it, one or two hutches and grass kiosks. He made the upper paper blank in the middle position to express vast lakes and broad sky. And left mountains gleamingly beyond. His pictures are calm and indifferent to popularity with perfect artistic conception. This kind of pattern is unprecedented.
Dong Qichang learned from Ni Zan’s paintings when he was young but never understand Ni Zan’s essence of simple but remoting in time and space even when he was old.
For us, what do we learn in deed from Ni Zan’s story? You will be rewarded an easy but pleasant life, if you can leave money, rights and fame and so on behind which are external stuffs besides the body to keep a quiet and elegant spirit…