“Among the things she said: "Women seem to possess all the natural gifts essential to a good portraitist ... such as personality, patience and intuition. The sitter ought to be the predominating factor in a successful portrait. Men portraitist are apt to forget this; they are inclined to lose the sitter in a maze of technique luxuriating in the cleverness and beauty of their own medium.”

“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”

“Harry," said Basil Hallward, looking him straight in the face, "every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself. The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul.”

“She was pondering the option of law school, the great American baby-sitter for directionless postgrads.”

“The Nature of men and women -their essential nature- is so vile and despicable that if you were to portray a person as he really is, no one would believe you.”

“Bobby Tom: You're supposed to be my assistant, not a baby-sitter!Gracie: One and the same.”