To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is to not have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything.

If I work incessantly to the last, nature owes me another form of existence when the present one collapses.

Alas, that we should be so unwilling to listen to the still and holy yearnings of the heart! A god whispers quite softly in our breast, softly yet audibly; telling us what we ought to seek and what to shun.

All perishable is but an allegory.

A plant is like a self-willed man, out of whom we can obtain all which we desire, if we will only treat him his own way.

He who wishes to exert a useful influence must be careful to insult nothing. Let him not be troubled by what seems absurd, but concentrate his energies to the creation of what is good. He must not demolish, but build. He must raise temples where mankind may come and partake of the purest pleasure.

But the valid issue is the extent to which man knows how to form and master the material at his command.