That which seems to be wealth may in verity be only the gilded index of far reaching ruin

In mortals there is a care for trifles which proceeds from love and conscience, and is most holy; and a care for trifles which comes of idleness and frivolity, and is most base. And so, also, there is a gravity proceeding from thought, which is most noble; and a gravity proceeding from dulness and mere incapability of enjoyment, which is most base.

Repose demands for its expression the implied capability of its opposite,--energy.

The power of painter or poet to describe what he calls an ideal thing depends upon its being to him not an ideal but a real thing. No man ever did or ever will work well but either from actual sight or sight of faith.

Everything that you can see in the world around you presents itself to your eyes only as an arrangement of patches of different colors.

The secret of language is the secret of sympathy, and its full charm is possible only to the gentle

A man is born an artist as a hippopotamus is born a hippopotamus; and you can no more make yourself one than you can make yourself a giraffe.