Having wandered some distance among gloomy rocks, I came to the entrance of a great cavern ... Two contrary emotions arose in me: fear and desire--fear of the threatening dark cavern, desire to see whether there were any marvelous things in it.

For those colours which you wish to be beautiful, always first prepare a pure white ground.

The water which rises in the mountains is the blood which keeps the mountain in life.

Threats alone, are the weapons of the threatened man.

Savage is he who saves himself.

If you throw a stone in a pond... the waves which strike against the shores are thrown back towards the spot where the stone struck; and on meeting other waves they never intercept each other's course... In a small pond one and the same stroke gives birth to many motions of advance and recoil.

As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself.