I believe I do much better for the time being by first copying some good things than by working without that foundation

Just slap something on it when you see a blank canvas staring at you with a sort of imbecility.

As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see.

There is no such thing as an ugly woman.

It is better to be high-spirited even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent.

Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again.

A weaver who has to direct and to interweave a great many little threads has no time to philosophize about it, but rather he is so absorbed in his work that he doesn't think but acts, and he feels how things must go more than he can explain it.