In the vaunted works of Art, The master-stroke is Nature’s part.

It depends on the mood of the man, whether he shall see the sunset or the fine poem. There are always sunsets, and there is always genius; but only a few hours so serene that we can relish nature or criticism. The more or less depends on structure or temperament.

Art is the path of the creator to his work.

“Ah!” said a brave painter to me, thinking on these things, “if a man has failed, you will find he has dreamed instead of working. There is no way to success in our art, but to take off your coat, grind paint, and work like a digger on the railroad, all day and every day.”

The true artist has the planet for his pedestal; the adventurer, after years of strife, has nothing broader than his shoes.

A painter told me that nobody could draw a tree without in some sort becoming a tree; or draw a child by studying the outlines of its form merely, but by watching for a time his motions and plays, the painter enters into his nature and can then draw him at every attitude.

The artists must be sacrificed to their art. Like the bees, they must put their lives into the sting they give.

Perpetual modernness is the measure of merit in every work of art.

Classic art was the art of necessity: modern romantic art bears the stamp of caprice and chance.

In art the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can inspire.