Nature is very rarely right, to such an extent even, that it might almost be said that nature is usually wrong.

Frederic Leighton to James McNeill Whistler: 'My dear Whistler, you leave your pictures in such a sketchy, unfinished state. Why don't you ever finish them?' James McNeill Whistler to Frederic Leighton: 'My dear Leighton, why do you ever begin yours?

Work alone will efface the footsteps of work.

I always ask at once, 'Do you drink?' and if she says 'No,' I bow politely and say I am sorry but I fear she will not suit. All good cooks drink.

Paint should not be applied thick. It should be like a breath on the surface of a pane of glass.

If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes impossible.

The work of a master reeks not of the sweat of the brow - suggests no effort - and is finished from its beginning.