“Something in your brushwork touches the heart, Issun. You never abandoned your life as an artist after all.”

“I think that after the first time you give your heart away, you never get it back. The rest of your life is just you pretending that you still have a heart.”

“All your life you're yellow. Then one day you brush up against something blue, the barest touch, and voila, the rest of your life you're green.”

“Always abandon your enemies,and never abandon your friends.”

“Then Martine said: "So yuo will be poor now all your life, Babette?"Poor?" said Babette. She smiled as if to herself. "No, I shall never be poor. I told you that I am a great artist. A great artist, Mesdames, is never poor.We have something, Mesdames, of which other people know nothing.”

“It's like this," Nana says. "All your life you're yellow. Then one day you brush up against something blue, the barest touch, and voila, the rest of your life you're green.”