The soul of the Christian religion is reverence.

The universal subjugator, the commonplace.

My counsel is, to force nothing, and rather to trifle and sleep away all unproductive days and hours, than on such days to compose something that will afterwards give no pleasure.

Painting predicates what man wants to see, and what man ought to see, not what he ordinarily sees.

What is predestination? Answer: God is more powerful and wiser than we are, therefore he deals with us according to his pleasure.

Alas, I have studied philosophy, the law as well as medicine, and to my sorrow, theology; studied them well with ardent zeal, yet here I am, a wretched fool, no wiser than I was before.

The society of women is the element of good manners.