An artist's career always begins tomorrow.

Can’t a person be born where they want to be born?

You shouldn’t say it is not good. You should say, you do not like it; and then, you know, you’re perfectly safe.

I remember that at one time I always made a drawing before going to bed!! – Of myself I mean – though I finally destroyed most of them.

I can’t tell you if genius is hereditary, because heaven has granted me no offspring.

We look at a painting to know the painter; it’s his company we are after, not his skill.

The world is divided into two classes – invalids and nurses.

I am not arguing with you – I am telling you.

The work of a master reeks not of the sweat of the brow – suggests no effort – and is finished from its beginning.

Industry in art is a necessity – not a virtue – and any evidence of the same, in the production, is a blemish, not a quality; a proof, not of achievement, but of absolutely insufficient work, for work alone will efface the footsteps of work.