A mind might ponder its thought for ages, and not gain so much self-knowledge as the passion of love shall teach it in a day.

Skill to do comes of doing

We seek our friend not sacredly, but with an adulterate passion which would appropriate him to ourselves

Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring

Knowledge is the only elegance.

A painter told me that nobody could draw a tree without in some sort becoming a tree; or draw a child by studying the outlines of its form merely, but by watching for a time his motions and plays, the painter enters into his nature and can then draw