Excellence is never granted to man, but as the reward of labour.

Common observation and a plain understanding is the source of all art.

The young mind is pliable and imitates, but in more advanced states grows rigid and must be warmed and softened before it will receive a deep impression.

A mere copier of nature can never produce anything great.

The first degree of proficiency is, in painting, what grammar is in literature, a general preparation for whatever the student may afterward choose for more particular application. The power of drawing, modeling, and using colors, is very properly called the language of the art.

And he who does not know himself does not know others, so it may be said with equal truth, that he who does not know others knows himself but very imperfectly.

Excellence is never granted to man, but as the reward of labour.