Of several bodies all equally larger and distant, that most brightly illuminated will appear to the eye nearest and largest.

When you are painting you should take a flat mirror and often look at your work within it, and it will then be seen in reverse, and will appear to be by the hand of some other master, and you will be better able to judge of its faults than in any other way.

I would venture to affirm that a man cannot attain excellence if he satisfy the ignorant and not those of his own craft, and if he be not ‘singular’ or ‘distant,’ or whatever you like to call him.

O time! swift devourer of all created things!

How many emperors and how many princes have lived and died and no record of them remains, and they only sought to gain dominions and riches in order that their fame might be ever lasting.

The earth is moved from its position by the weight of a tiny bird resting upon it.

The length of a man’s outspread arms is equal to his height.

We should not desire the impossible.

The eye encompasses the beauty of the whole world.

A man of supreme folly: his life flies away while he is merely hoping to enjoy it.