I hope to live all my life for my art, without abandoning my principles one iota.

Fine art is knowledge made visible.

I have never seen either angels or goddesses, so I am not interested in painting them.

Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it.

Painting is the representation of visible forms. The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal.

The principle of realism means denial of the ideal.

Beauty lies in nature and reveals, once the artist has perceived it, its own expressive power.

To be able to translate the customs, ideas and appearance of my times as I see them - in a word, to create a living art - this has been my aim.

When I am no longer controversial, I will no longer be important

Titles have never given a just idea of things; were it otherwise, the work would be superfluous.

The beautiful is in nature, and it is encountered under the most diverse forms of reality. Once it is found it belongs to art, or rather to the artist who discovers it.

The necessary fiddling about and moving things can be greatly facilitated by a bit of forethought.

It is an embarrassment that the United States, the wealthiest nation, has people that go hungry.

I lead a life of severe self-control mitigated by moments of impulse.

Not everybody is strong enough to endure life without an anesthetic. Drink probably averts more gross crime than it causes.

Genius is allied to a warm and inflammable constitution; delicacy of taste, to calmness and sedateness. Hence it is common to find genius in one who is a prey to every passion.

Believe in what you can do and be not deterred by what others say.

Doubt, but still hate!

The curious company studies the anomalies or the unexpected findings. The company that isn't curious ignores them or punishes people who don't do exactly what they set out to do.

I find Christmas very difficult.

Longfellow is to poetry what the barrel-organ is to music.