... the true seeing is within; and painting stares at you with an insistent imperfection.

Errors look so very ugly in persons of small means -one feels they are taking quite a liberty in going astray; whereas people of fortune may naturally indulge in a few delinquencies.

The egoism which enters into our theories does not affect their sincerity; rather, the more our egoism is satisfied, the more robust is our belief.

I would not creep along the coast but steer Out in mid-sea, by guidance of the stars.

To manage men one ought to have a sharp mind in a velvet sheath.

A picture of human life such as a great artist can give, surprises even the trivial and the selfish into that attention to what is apart from themselves, which may be called the raw material of moral sentiment.

I easily sink into mere absorption of what other minds have done, and should like a whole life for that alone.