There is an angel imprisoned in it and I must set it free.

Do not be concerned that you might set a target too high and fail. Be concerned that you will set it too low and succeed.

However rich I may have been, I have always lived like a poor man.

Good painting is nothing else but a copy of the perfections of God and a reminder of His painting. Finally, good painting is a music and a melody which intellect only can appreciate, and with great difficulty.

Heaven-born, the soul a heavenward course must hold; beyond the world she soars; the wise man, I affirm, can find no rest in that which perishes, nor will he lend his heart to ought that doth time depend

Do you know that women who are chaste remain much fresher than those who are not?

The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image.