Even the richest soil, if left uncultivated will produce the rankest weeds.

That which can be lost cannot be deemed riches.

Our life is made by the death of others.

How painting surpasses all human works by reason of the subtle possibilities which it contains.

The body of the earth is of the nature of a fish... because it draws water as its breath instead of air.

As regards this vice, we read that the peacock is more guilty of it than any other animal. For it is always contemplating the beauty of its tail, which it spreads in the form of a wheel, and by its cries attracts to itself the gaze of the creatures that surround it. And this is the last vice to be conquered.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.