It is well with me only when I have a chisel in my hand.

The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone.

What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?

The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image.

Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.

The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.

I cannot live under pressures from patrons, let alone paint.