The older I get the more I trust in the law according to which the rose and the lily bloom.

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

If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.

All one needs to do is declare oneself free and one will immediately feel dependent. If you dare to declare yourself dependent, you feel independent.

If we examine every stage of our lives, we find that from our first breath to our last we are under the constraint of circumstances. And yet we still possess the greatest of all freedoms, the power of developing our innermost selves in harmony with the moral order of the universe, and so winning peace of heart whatever obstacles we meet.

Confronted by outstanding merit, there is no way of saving one's ego except by love

The world sees only the reflection of merit; therefore when you come to know a really great man intimately, you may as often find him above as below his reputation.