Simplicity, without variety, is wholly insipid.

I have generally found that persons who had studied painting least were the best judges of it.

The serpentine line, or the line of grace, by its waving and winding at the same time different ways, leads the eye in a pleasing manner along the continuity of its variety.

Time is not a great artist but weakens all he touches.

All the world is competent to judge my pictures except those who are of my profession.

I know of no such thing as genius, genius is nothing but labor and diligence.

Straight lines vary only in length, and therefore are least ornamental.

I think it is owing to the good sense of the English that they have not painted better.

I had rather, if cruelty has been prevented by the four prints [The Four Stages of Cruelty], be maker of them than of the [Raphael] cartoons.

You know there's got to be a better way of life - somewhere, sometime, somehow - but you're not exactly sure what better is.

The satirist who writes nothing but satire should write but little - or it will seem that his satire springs rather from his own caustic nature than from the sins of the world in which he lives.

You're never too good to get better... take that and apply that to everything in your life.

'Goals' and 'caps' on carbon emissions are practically worthless, if coal emissions continue, because of the exceedingly long lifetime of carbon dioxide in the air.

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

Just thinking that my dog loves me more than I love him, I feel shame.

It is an unhappy lot which finds no enemies.

Though like the wanderer, The sun gone down, Darkness be over me, My rest a stone; Yet in my dreams I'd be Nearer, my God, to Thee.

I mean, I'm just speaking of my own experiences and my own desires, and it's a kind of a childlike wonder that could really possibly speculate on other dimensions.

As a writer, I absorb stories, allow them to churn within my own head and heart - often for years - until I find a way of telling them that fits both my time and temperament.