“The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue.”

“Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel.”

“A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.”

“Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. So we must stretch ourselves to the very limits of human possibility. Anything less is a sin against both God and man.”

“You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself...the height of a man's success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. ...And this law is the expression of eternal justice. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.”

“Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”

“He is a poor pupil who does not go beyond his master.”