The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art.

I believe in God and in nature and in the triumph of good over evil.

One that does not think to highly of himself is more than he thinks.

Taste is only to be educated by contemplation, not of the tolerably good but of the truly excellent.

The true, prescriptive artist strives after artistic truth; the lawless artist, following blind instinct, after an appearance of naturalness. The one leads to the highest peaks of art, the other to its lowest depths.

The summit charms us, the steps to it do not; with the heights before our eyes, we like to linger in the plain. It is only a part of art that can be taught; but the artist needs the whole. He who is only half instructed speaks much and is always wrong; who knows it wholly is content with acting and speaks seldom or late.

Self knowledge is best learned not by contemplation, but by action.