Men are merely on a lower or higher stage of an eminence, whose summit is God's throne infinitely above all; and there is just as much reason for the wisest as for the simplest man being discontent with his position, as respects the real quantity of knowledge he possesses.

Taste is the only morality. Tell me what you like and I'll tell you what you are.

No amount of pay ever made a good soldier, a good teacher, a good artist, or a good workman.

Beauty deprived of its proper foils and adjuncts ceases to be enjoyed as beauty, just as light deprived of all shadows ceases to be enjoyed as light.

Music when healthy, is the teacher of perfect order, and when depraved, the teacher of perfect disorder.

In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.

All really great pictures exhibit the general habits of nature, manifested in some peculiar, rare, and beautiful way.