King of the animals — as thou hast described him — I should rather say king of the beasts, thou being the greatest — because thou hast spared slaying them, in order that they may give thee their children for the benefit of the gullet, of which thou hast attempted to make a sepulchre for all animals; and I would say still more, if it were allowed me to speak the entire truth.

To discover the soul living in somebody's body, we watch the surrounding of the body, and if it's messy and disordered, so is the soul.

The most beautiful words of love are told in silence for a look.

The painter strives and competes with nature.

It reflects no great honor on a painter to be able to execute only one thing well -- such as a head, an academy figure, or draperies, animals, landscapes, or the like -- in other words, confining himself to some particular object of study. This is so because there is scarcely a person so devoid of genius as to fail of success if he applies himself earnestly to one branch of study and practices it continually.

The first object of the painter is to make a flat plane appear as a body in relief and projecting from that plane

The greatest geniuses sometimes accomplish more when they work less.