Men can construct a science with very few instruments, or with very plain instruments; but no one on earth could construct a science with unreliable instruments. A man might work out the whole of mathematics with a handful of pebbles, but not with a handful of clay which was always falling apart into new fragments, and falling together into new combinations. A man might measure heaven and earth with a reed, but not with a growing reed.

The diseased pride [of artistic individualists] was not even conscious of a public interest, and would have found all political terms utterly tasteless and insignificant. It was no longer a question of one man one vote, but of one man one universe.

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.

Paradox - Truth standing on her head to get attention.

Silence is the unbearable repartee.

An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.

There is nothing harder to learn than painting and nothing which most people take less trouble about learning.