Thou must (in commanding and winning, or serving and losing, suffering or triumphing) be either anvil or hammer.

The world is for thousands a freak show; the images flicker past and vanish; the impressions remain flat and unconnected in the soul. Thus they are easily led by the opinions of others, are content to let their impressions be shuffled and rearranged and evaluated differently.

Human life runs its course in the metamorphosis between receiving and giving.

Art is a severe business; most serious when employed in grand and sacred objects. The artist stands higher than art, higher than the object. He uses art for his purposes, and deals with the object after his own fashion.

And I have again observed, my dear friend, in this trifling affair, that misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness. At all events, the two latter are of less frequent occurrence.

Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.

True art can only spring from the intimate linking of the serious and the playful.