If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.

In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.

I feast on wine and bread, and feasts they are.

If people knew how hard I worked at my art, they would not consider me a genius.

I am a poor man and of little worth, who is laboring in that art that God has given me in order to extend my life as long as possible.

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