We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs.

Only the bad artists of the nineteenth century were frightened by the invention of photography; the good ones all welcomed it and used it.

It is often said that Leonardo drew so well because he knew about things; it is truer to say that he knew about things because he drew so well.

Lives devoted to Beauty seldom end well.

The nude gains its enduring value from the fact that it reconciles several contrary states. It takes the most sensual and immediately interesting object, the human body, and puts it out of reach of time and desire; it takes the most purely rational concept of which mankind is capable, mathematical order, and makes it a delight to the senses; and it takes the vague fears of the unknown and sweetens them by showing that the gods are like men and may be worshiped for their life-giving beauty rather than their death-dealing powers.

The great artist takes what he needs.

Those who wish, in the interest of morality, to reduce Leonardo, that inexhaustible source of creative power, to a neutral or sexless agency, have a strange idea of doing service to his reputation.