There are so many things about which some old man ought to tell one while one is little; for when one is grown one would know them as a matter of course.

You must think that something is happening upon you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall.

Everything terrible is something that needs our love.

I am too alone in the world and not alone enough to make every moment holy.

Don't take my devils away, because my angels may flee too.

Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depth of your heart; confess to yourself you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.

Painting is something that takes place among the colors, and one has to leave them alone completely, so that they can settle the matter among themselves. Their intercourse: this is the whole of painting. Whoever meddles, arranges, injects his human deliberation, his wit, his advocacy, his intellectual agility in any way, is already disturbing and clouding their activity.