There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man's self.

I think I tend to destroy the better paintings, or those that have been better to a certain extent. I try and take them further, and they lose all their qualities, and they lose everything. I think I would say that I destroy all the better paintings.

It is a secret both in nature and state, that it is safer to change many things than one.

It is impossible to love and to be wise.

Hurl your calumnies boldly; something is sure to stick.

The human understanding is no dry light, but receives an infusion from the will and affections... What a man had rather were true he more readily believes.

The divisions of science are not like different lines that meet in one angle, but rather like the branches of trees that join in one trunk.