As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

There is peace even in the storm

Christ is more of an artist than the artists; he works in the living spirit and the living flesh, he makes men instead of statues.

To believe in God for me is to feel that there is a God, not a dead one, or a stuffed one, who with irresistible force urges us towards more loving.

All art is a gift. It is first of all a gift that the maker can do it. It is then a gift to someone else, whether they pay for it or not. The wonder of it is that we cannot get the production of these gifts stopped. Art is life seeking itself. It is our intractable expressions of love for the beauties, ideas and epiphanies we regularly find. I framed the painting. It's now hanging in our den. "I have walked this earth for 30 years, and, out of gratitude, want to leave some souvenir.

The great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. And great things are not something accidental, but must certainly be willed.

Those Dutchmen had hardly any imagination or fantasy, but their good taste and their scientific knowledge of composition were enormous.