The human understanding is of its own nature prone to suppose the existence of more order and regularity in the world than it finds. And though there be many things in nature which are singular and unmatched, yet it devises for them parallels and conjugates and relatives which do not exist. Hence the fiction that all celestial bodies move in perfect circles, spirals and dragons being (except in name) utterly rejected.

Out of monuments, names, words proverbs ...and the like, we do save and recover somewhat from the deluge of time.

In civil business; what first? boldness; what second and third? boldness: and yet boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness.

A cat will never drown if she sees the shore.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

Silence is the virtue of fools.

I think that one of the things is that, if you are going to decide to be a painter, you have got to decide that you are not going to be afraid of making a fool of yourself. I think another thing is to be able to find subjects which really absorb you to try and do. I feel that without a subject you automatically go back into decoration because you haven't got the subject which is always eating into you to bring it back - and the greatest art always returns you to the vulnerability of the human situation.