Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

A wave is never found alone, but is mingled with as many other waves as there are uneven places in the object where the said wave is produced.

There is no object so large but that at a great distance from the eye it does not appear smaller than a smaller object near.

Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.

People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life.

To speak well of a base man is much the same as speaking ill of a good man.

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.