“The first function of an art student is to observe, to study nature.”

“The sooner you make your first five thousand mistakes the sooner you will beable to correct them.”

“You should draw not what the thing looks like, not even what it is, but what it is doing…Gesture has no precise edges, no forms. The forms are in the act of changing. Gesture is movement in space.”

“A common defect of modern art study is that too many students do not know why they draw.”

“I first studied at the "School of Hard Knocks." I was a very good student...”

“The first duty of an Author is --- I conceive --- a faithful allegiance to Truth and Nature; his second, such a conscientious study of Art as shall enable him to interpret eloquently and effectively the oracles delivered by those two great deities.--- Charlotte Bronte”

“The true function of art is to criticize, embellish and edit nature… the artist is a sort of impassioned proof-reader, blue penciling the bad spelling of God.”