A painting which does not take its inspiration from the heart is nothing more than futile juggling.

You call me a misanthrope because I avoid society. You err; I love society. Yet in order not to hate people, I must avoid their company.

All authentic art is conceived at a sacred moment and nourished in a blessed hour; an inner impulse creates it, often without the artist being aware of it.

The painter should paint not only what he has in front of him, but also what he sees inside himself. If he sees nothing within, then he should stop painting what is in front of him.

The eye and fantasy feel more attracted by nebulous distance than by that which is close and distinct in front of us.

I must stay alone and know that I am alone to contemplate and feel nature in full; I have to surrender myself to what encircles me, I have to merge with my clouds and rocks in order to be what I am.

Close your bodily eye, that you may see your picture first with the eye of the spirit. Then bring to light what you have seen in the darkness, that its effect may work back, from without to within.

Every true work of art must express a distinct feeling.

The pure, frank sentiments we hold in our hearts are the only truthful sources of art.

I must stay alone and know that I am alone to contemplate and feel nature in full.

The feelings of another person should never be imposed upon us as a law.

How could the death of someone you had never met affect you so?

Love does not claim materialistic possession of any kind, it yields complete freedom.

She knew what it felt like to tremble like that before touching someone -- desire so acute that it became despair.

My parents were music lovers and collectors. It was around.

On why he has donated $600 million to selected charities. I simply decided I had enough money.

...from the same principles, I now demonstrate the frame of the System of the World.

This is a case if the President is permitted to be above the law, then we no longer have a republic.

The pleasure of the senses is always regulated in accordance with the imagination. Man can aspire to felicity only by serving all the whims of his imagination.

There is no knife that cuts so sharply and with such poisoned blade as treachery.

I also have a big love of classical music played on piano because this is the environment I grew up in my brother being one of the great masters in this world.