Washington Allston Quotes

Desert being the essential condition of praise, there can be no reality in the one without the other.

The most intangible, and therefore the worst, kind of a lie is a half truth. This is the peculiar device of a conscientious detractor.

It is a hard matter for a man to lie all over, nature having provided king's evidence in almost every member. The hand will sometimes act as a vane, to show which way the wind blows, even when every feature is set the other way; the knees smite together and sound the alarm of fear under a fierce countenance; the legs shake with anger when all above us calm.

The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself.

No man knows himself as an original.

He who has no pleasure in looking up, is not fit so much as to look down.

Nothing gets you behind faster than trying to keep up with people who are already there.

The love of gain never made a painter; but it has marred many.

Distinction is the consequence, never the object of a great mind.

Selfishness in art, as in other things, is sensibility kept at home.

The painter who is content with the praise of the world for what does not satisfy himself, is not an artist, but an artisan; for though his reward be only praise, his pay is that of a mechanic.

Fame has no necessary conjunction with praise; it may exist without the breath of a word: it is a recognition of excellence which must be felt, but need not be spoken. Even the envious must feel it: feel it, and hate in silence.

Never judge a work of art by its defects.

Never expect justice from a vain man; if he has the negative magnanimity not to disparage you, it is the most you can expect.