“Our standards of morality are begotten of the past needs of society, but is society to remain always the same?”

“One can even buy a so-called Religion,which is really but common morality sanctified with flowers and music. Rob the Church of her accessories and what remains behind?”

“Fain would we remain barbarians, if our claim to civilization were to be based on the gruesome glory of war.”

“A master has always something to offer, while we go hungry solely because of our own lack of appreciation.”

“Art, to be fully appreciated, must be true to contemporaneous life. It is not that we should ignore the claims of posterity, but that we should seek to enjoy the present more. It is not that we should disregard the creations of the past, but that we should try to assimilate them into our consciousness.”

“The claims of contemporary art cannot be ignored in any vital scheme of life. The art of to-day is that which really belongs to us: it is our own reflection. In condemning it we but condemn ourselves. We say that the present age possesses no art:—who is responsible for this? It is indeed a shame that despite all our rhapsodies about the ancients we pay so little attention to our own possibilities. Struggling artists, weary souls lingering in the shadow of cold disdain! In our self- centered century, what inspiration do we offer them? The past may well look with pity at the poverty of our civilisation; the future will laugh at the barrenness of our art. We are destroying the beautiful in life.”

“For life is an expression, our unconscious actions the constant betrayal of our innermost thought.”