“Water is the driving force in nature.”

“The acquisition of knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.”

“In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.”

“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.”

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

“I abhor the supreme folly of those who blame the disciples of nature in defiance of those masters who were themselves her pupils”

“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.”