Michelangelo

“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.”

“The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has.”

“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.”

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

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

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

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

“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.”

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

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

“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 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 am still learning.”

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”

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

“Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.”

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

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

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