The public has always, and in every age, been badly brought up. They are continually asking Art to be popular, to please their want of taste, to flatter their absurd vanity, to tell them what they have been told before, to show them what they ought to be tired of seeing, to amuse them when they feel heavy after eating too much, and to distract their thoughts when they are wearied of their own stupidity.

Flowers are as common in the country as people are in London.

The unread is always better than the unreadable.

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself.

Life is too short to be in a hurry.

When a love comes to an end, weaklings cry, efficient ones instantly find another love, and the wise already have one in reserve.