Art is mind and heart and touch as much and more than it is mere instrument, technique - without which however it cannot exist at all.

No artifact is a work of art if it does not help to humanize us. Without art...our world would have remained a jungle.

I wonder whether art has a higher function than to make me feel, appreciate, and enjoy natural objects for their art value?

There are two futures, the future of desire and the future of fate, and man's reason has never learnt to separate them.

The Renaissance had resulted in the emancipation of the individual, in making him feel that the universe had no other purpose than his happiness. This brought an entirely new answer to the question, 'Why should I do this or that?' It used to be, 'Because self-instituted authority command you.' The answer now was, 'Because it is good for men.' In this lies our greatest debt to the Renaissance, that it instituted the welfare of men as the end of all action.

[Describing his house:] It is a library with living rooms attached.

The ultimate justification of the work of art is to help the spectator to become a work of art himself.