Having wandered some distance among gloomy rocks, I came to the entrance of a great cavern ... Two contrary emotions arose in me: fear and desire--fear of the threatening dark cavern, desire to see whether there were any marvelous things in it.

An artist's studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it.

Vitality and beauty are gifts of Nature for those who live according to its laws.

He who walks straight rarely falls.

The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of.

The painter or draftsman ought to be solitary, in order that the well-being of the body not sap the vigour of the mind.

A good painter is to paint two main things, men and the working of man's mind.

Oysters open completely when the moon is full; and when the crab sees one it throws a piece of stone or seaweed into it and the oyster cannot close again so that it serves the crab for meat. Such is the fate of him who opens his mouth too much and thereby puts himself at the mercy of the listener.

One has no right to love or hate anything if one has not acquired a thorough knowledge of its nature. Great love springs from great knowledge of the beloved object, and if you know it but little you will be able to love it only a little or not at all.

When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come.

I am never weary of being useful... In serving others I cannot do enough. No labor is sufficient to tire me.

There shall be wings! If the accomplishment be not for me, 'tis for some other. The spirit cannot die; and man, who shall know all and shall have wings.

If on your own or by the criticism of others you discover error in your work, correct it then and there; otherwise in exposing your work to the public, you will expose your error also.

The cat is nature's masterpiece.

The painter's mind is a copy of the divine mind, since it operates freely in creating the many kinds of animals, plants, fruits, landscapes, countrysides, ruins, and awe-inspiring places.

To discover the soul living in somebody's body, we watch the surrounding of the body, and if it's messy and disordered, so is the soul.

Not to appreciate life, all of life, is not to deserve it.

The soul is content to stay imprisoned in the human body... for through the eyes all the various things of nature are represented to the soul.