Good culture is born of a good disposition; and since the cause is more to be praised than the effect, I will rather praise a good disposition without culture, than good culture without the disposition.

The eye is the window of the human body through which it feels its way and enjoys the beauty of the world.

This work should commence with the conception of man, and should describe the nature of the womb, and how the child inhabits it, and in what stage it dwells there, and the manner of its quickening and feeding, and its growth, and what interval there is between one stage of growth and another, and what thing drives it forth from the body of the mother, and for what reason it sometimes emerges from the belly of its mother before the due time.

The lover is moved by the beloved object as the senses are by sensual objects; and they unite and become one and the same thing. The work is the first thing born of this union; if the thing loved is base the lover becomes base.

The color of the object illuminated partakes of the color of that which illuminates it.

To enjoy - to love a thing for its own sake and for no other reason.

If you do not rest on the good foundation of nature, you will labour with little honor and less profit.