I would have been in mortal misery all my life for fear my wife might say, "That's a pretty little thing," after I had finished a picture.

Be sure to give the same expression to a person's face that you give to his body.

Nothing in art should seem accidental, not even movement

You must aim high, not in what you are going to do at some future date, but in what you are going to make yourself do to-day. Otherwise, working is just a waste of time.

In painting you must give the idea of the true by means of the false.

Drawing is not the same as form, it is a way of seeing form.

What is certain is that setting a piece of nature in place and drawing it are two very different things.