The ignorant Insults of Individuals will not hinder me from doing my duty to my Art

You throw the sand against the wind and the wind blows it back again.

The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow, nor the lion, the horse, how he shall take his prey.

And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds and binding with briars my joys and desires. (from 'The Garden of Love')

The eye altering, alters all.

How can the bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing? How can a child, when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring?

I am more famed in Heaven for my works than I could well conceive. In my brain are studies & chambers filled with books & pictures of old, which I wrote and painted in ages of Eternity before my mortal life; and whose works are the delight & study of Archangels. Why, then, should I be anxious about the riches or fame of mortality?