Please send me your last pair of shoes, worn out with dancing as you mentioned in your letter, so that I might have something to press against my heart.

The beginning of faith is the beginning of fruitfulness; but the beginning of unbelief, however glittering, is empty.

Art is constitutive-the artist determines beauty. He does not take it over.

I reverence the individual who understands distinctly what he wishes; who unweariedly advances, who knows the means conducive to his object, and can seize and use them.

What a torment it is to see so much loveliness passing and repassing before us, and yet not dare to lay hold of it!

The world cannot do without great men, but great men are very troublesome to the world.

This world could not exist if it were not so simple. The ground has been tilled a thousand years, yet its powers remain ever the same; a little rain, a little sun, and each spring it grows green again.