Michelangelo

“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.”

“Faith in oneself is the best and safest course.”

“I cannot live under pressures from patrons, let alone paint.”

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

“Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.”

“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 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.”

“I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.”

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

“I have never felt salvation in nature. I love cities above all.”

“Many believe - and I believe - that I have been designated for this work by God. In spite of my old age, I do not want to give it up; I work out of love for God and I put all my hope in Him.”

“The best of artists has no conception that the marble alone does not contain within itself.”

“Genius is eternal patience.”

“A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.”

“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.”

“Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.”

“Death and love are the two wings that bear the good man to heaven.”

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

“I live and love in God's peculiar light.”