If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.
The best of artists has no conception that the marble alone does not contain within itself.
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.
The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms and to confide in one’s self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course.
Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.
If in my youth I had realized that the sustaining splendour of beauty of with which I was in love would one day flood back into my heart, there to ignite a flame that would torture me without end, how gladly would I have put out the light in my eyes.