Painters are not in any way unsociable through pride, but either because they find few pursuits equal to painting, or in order not to corrupt themselves with the useless conversation of idle people, and debase the intellect from the lofty imaginations in which they are always absorbed.
Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.
It is well with me only when I have a chisel in my hand.
No great work of art is ever finished.
Do you know that women who are chaste remain much fresher than those who are not?
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.