Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to disregard public opinion.

Often whole days pass without my speaking to anyone.

What preys on my mind is simply this one question: what am I good for, could I not be of service or use in some way?

It must be a good thing to die conscious of having performed some real good, and to know that by this work one will live, at least in the memory of some, and will have left a good example to those that come after. A work that is good-it may not be eternal, but the thought expressed in it is, and the work itself will certainly remain in existence for a long, long time; and if afterwards others arise, they can do no better than follow in the footsteps of such predecessors and do their work in the same way.

The more you love, the more you suffer.

One can never study nature too much and too hard

Someone has a great fire in his soul and nobody ever comes to warm themselves at it, and passers-by see nothing but a little smoke at the top of the chimney and then go on their way.