The best slave is the one who thinks he is free.

The most original of authors are not so because they advance what is new, but more because they know how to say something, as if it had never been said before.

Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.

Objects in pictures should so be arranged as by their very position to tell their own story.

The hero draws inspiration from the virtue of his ancestors.

Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality.

Nothing is more odious than the majority, for it consists of a few powerful leaders, a certain number of accommodating scoundrels and submissive weaklings, and a mass of men who trot after them without thinking, or knowing their own minds.