Art

I am fit for nothing but literature

If poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all

Poetry should be great and unobtrusive, a thing which enters into one's soul, and does not startle it or amaze it with itself, but with its subject

Museums are the cemeteries of the arts

Never trust the artist. Trust the tale

Nature is a revelation of God; art is a revelation of man

Literature is an investment of genius which has dividends to all subsequent times

An opera may be allowed to be extravagantly lavish in its decorations, as its only design is to gratify the senses and keep up an indolent attention in the audience

There exist only three beings worthy of respect: the priest, the soldier, the poet. To know, to kill, to create

Where painting is weakest, namely, in the expression of the highest moral and spiritual ideas, there music is sublimely strong.

There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured, such as poetry, music, painting, public speaking

It is the glory and merit of some men to write well, and of others not to write at all

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author

Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity, it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance

When a book raises your spirit, and inspires you with noble and courageous feelings, seek for no other rule to judge the event by; it is good and made by a good workman

The most accomplished monkey cannot draw a monkey, this only man can do; just as it is also only man who regards his ability to do this as a distinct merit

It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance... and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process

We work in the dark - we do what we can - we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.