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

One can never study nature too much and too hard

But by fighting the difficulties in which one finds oneself, an inner strength develops from within our heart, which improves in life's fight.

The large majority of people are asleep and do not wish to wake up.

Everyone who works with love and with intelligence finds in the very sincerity of his love for nature and art a kind of armor against the opinions of other people.

Well, I dare not allow myself any illusions, and I am afraid it may never happen that Father and Mother will really appreciate my art. It is not their fault; we do not see the same things with the same eyes, or have the same thoughts raised in us by them. They will never be able to understand what painting is.

I've never felt a desire (and I don't believe I ever shall) to bring the public to my work... a certain popularity seems to me the least desirable of things.