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

Never judge a work of art by its defects.

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

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

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

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.

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