... Amongst all the mechanical poison that this terrible nineteenth century has poured upon men, it has given us at any rate one antidote - the Daguerreotype. (1845)

One of the worst diseases to which the human creature is liable is its disease of thinking.

No picture can be good which deceives by its imitation, for the very reason that nothing can be beautiful which is not true.

The only way to understand these difficult parts of the Bible, or even to approach them with safety, is first to read and obey the easy ones.

Kind hearts are the garden, kind thoughts are the roots, kind words are the blossoms, kind deeds are the fruit.

You cannot have good architecture merely by asking people's advice on occasion. All good architecture is the expression of national life and character; and it is produced by a prevalent and eager national taste, or desire for beauty.

Do not think of your faults, still less of other's faults; look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.