It is in this power of saying everything, and yet saying nothing too plainly, that the perfection of art consists.

True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary.

The imagination is never governed, it is always the ruling and divine power

No good work whatever can be perfect, and the demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art

It does not much matter that an individual loses two or three hundred pounds in buying a bad picture, but it is to be regretted that a nation should lose two or three hundred thousand in raising a ridiculous building.

Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.