No man learns to know his inmost nature by introspection, for he rates himself sometimes too low, and often too high, by his own measurement. Man knows himself only by comparing himself with other men; it is life that touches his genuine worth.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheBy the artist's seizing any one object from nature, that object no longer is part of nature. One can go so far as to say that theartist creates the object in that very moment by emphasizing its significant, characteristic, and interesting aspects or, rather, by adding the higher values.
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheI hate every violent overthrow, because as much is destroyed as is gained by it.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe