There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.

Style in painting is the same as in writing; a power over materials, whether words or colors, by which conceptions or sentiments are conveyed.

Simplicity is an exact mediumbetween too little and too much.

Excellence is never granted to man but as the reward of labor. It argues no small strength of mind to persevere in habits of industry without the pleasure of perceiving those advances, which, like the hand of a clock, whilst they make hourly approaches to their point, yet proceed so slowly as to escape observation.

A room hung with pictures is a room hung with thoughts.

There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.

Reform is a work of time; a national taste, however wrong it may be, cannot be totally changed at once.