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.

Secrecy in suits goes a great way towards success.

Boldness is ever blind, for it sees not dangers and inconveniences whence it is bad in council though good in execution.

Men in great place are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of business.

Young men, in the conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they can hold; stir more than they can quiet; fly to the end, without consideration of the means and degrees; pursue some few principles, which they have chanced upon absurdly; care not to innovate, which draws unknown inconveniences; use extreme remedies at first; and, that which doubleth all errors, will not acknowledge or retract them; like an unready horse, that will neither stop nor turn.

Important families are like potatoes. The best parts are underground.

Fortune makes him fool, whom she makes her darling.