Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.

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.

The Mediterranean has the color of mackerel, changeable I mean. You don't always know if it is green or violet, you can't even say it's blue, because the next moment the changing reflection has taken on a tint of rose or gray.

I always think photographs abominable, and I don't like to have them around, particularly not those of persons I know and love. Those photographic portraits wither much sooner than we ourselves do, whereas the painted portrait is a thing which is felt, done with love.

I work as diligently on my canvases as the laborers do in their fields.

Painters understand nature and love it, and teach us to see.

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