“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”

“How may paintings have preserved the image of a divine beauty which in its natural manifestation has been rapidly overtaken by time or death. Thus, the work of the painter is nobler than that of nature, its mistress.”

“Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.”

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”

“The organ of perception acts more readily than judgment.”

“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”

“The eye sees a thing more clearly in dreams, than the imagination awake.”