One must work, nothing but work, and one must have patience.
Man's naked form belongs to no particular moment in history; it is eternal, and can be looked upon with joy by the people of all ages.
The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms. Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him.
I choose a block of marble and chop off whatever I don't need.
To any artist, worthy of the name, all in nature is beautiful, because his eyes, fearlessly accepting all exterior truth, read there, as in an open book, all the inner truth.
Nobody does good to men with impunity.
Sculpture is the art of the hole and the lump.
The modes of expression of men of genius differ as much as their souls, and it is impossible to say that in some among them, drawing and color are better or worse than in others.
Inside you there's an artist you don't know about. He's not interested in how things look different in moonlight.
I invent nothing, I rediscover.
Art is contemplation. It is the pleasure of the mind which searches into nature and which there divines the spirit of which nature herself is animated.
