In spite of everything, I shall rise again

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

Conscience is a man's compass, and though the needle sometimes deviates, though one often perceives irregularities in directing one's course by it, still one must try to follow its direction.

...and then, I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?

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.

What is done in love is done well.

That I was not suited to commerce or academic study in no way proves that I should also be unfit to be a painter.