I certainly consider a great appreciation of painting to be the best indication of a most perfect mind.

No art, however minor, demands less than total dedication if you want to excel in it.

The greatest work of an artist is the history of a painting.

A common error of ignorance is to maintain that what one does not know does not exist.

I will never tire of recommending the custom, practiced by the best architects, of preparing not only drawings and sketches, but also models of wood or any other material. These... enable us to examine... the work as a whole... and, before continuing any further, to estimate the likely trouble and expense.

Errors accumulate in the sketch and compound in the model.

Men are themselves the source of their own fortune and misfortune.