I love those who can smile in trouble

Water is the driving force of all nature.

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

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.

He who wishes to be rich within a day, will be hanged within a year.

Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.

The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.

He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.

The mind that engages in subjects of too great variety becomes confused and weakened.