Nature is economical. She puts her lights and darks only where she needs them.

You can't do a fine thing without having seen fine examples.

I tell you it's no joke to paint a portrait. I wonder that I am not more timid when I begin. I feel almost certain that I can do it. It seems very simple. I don't think of the time that is sure to come when I almost despair, when the whole thing seems hopeless.

It gives a fellow an awful shiver to hear the first shovelful of dirt and gravel rattle down upon the coffin; but after it is covered, it falls gently and makes no sound. The feeling of rest is perfect. There's no more nagging, no more pain!

You can always draw as well as you know how to. I flatter myself that I feel more than I express on canvas; but I know that is not so.

Painting is the only universal language. All nature is creation's picture book. Painting alone can describe every thing which can be seen, and suggest every emotion which can be felt. Art reaches back into the babyhood of time, and is man's only lasting monument.

There's lots of fun in this world, after all. And if there isn't, there is in the next. And we're going there, sure.