One painter ought never to imitate the manner of any other; because in that case he cannot be called the child of nature, but the grandchild. It is always best to have recourse to nature, which is replete with such abundance of objects, than to the productions of other masters, who learnt everything from her.

A good painter is to paint two main things, men and the working of man's mind.

Nature alone is the master of true genius.

Experience, the interpreter between creative nature and the human race, teaches the action of nature among mortals: how under the constraint of necessity she cannot act otherwise than as reason, who steers her helm, teaches her to act.

Men wrongly lament the flight of time, blaming it for being too swift; they do not perceive that its passage is sufficiently long, but a good memory, which nature has given to us, causes things long past to seem present.

Common Sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.