Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.

As when, O lady mine, With chiselled touch, The stone unhewn and cold, Becomes a living mould, The more the marble wastes, The more the statue grows.

And still I am learning.

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

The best of artists hath no thought to show which the rough stone in its superfluous shell doth not include; to break the marble spell is all the hand that serves the brain can do.

Can't you see the angel imprisoned in the block of stone trying to get out? I am trying to free him

It is not sufficient merely to be a great master in painting and very wise, but I think that it is necessary for the painter to be very moral in his mode of life, or even, if such were possible, a saint, so that the Holy Spirit may inspire his intellect.