“An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.”

Courage consists not in hazarding without fear; but being resolutely minded in a just cause.

Even those virtues that nature had denied him were imitated by him so successfully that he won more confidence than those who actually possessed them.

Do not speak of your happiness to one less fortunate than yourself.

A mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lighted.

We ought indeed to shrink from and feel shame at what is base, but nature which is over-cautious to avoid blame may be gentle and kindly, but cannot be great.

All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.

Painting is silent poetry.

They insist upon the shaving of the mustache, I think, in order that they may accustom the young men to obedience in the most trifling matters.

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

Courage consists not in hazarding without fear, but being resolutely minded in a just cause.

Rather I fear on the contrary that while we banish painful thoughts we may banish memory as well.

Those who receive with most pains and difficulty, remember best; every new think they learn, being, as it were, burnt and branded in on their minds.

Silence at the proper season is wisdom and better than any speech.

Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.

It does not follow, that because a particular work of art succeeds in charming us, its creator also deserves our admiration.

I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent than the extent of my power or possessions.

The price of freedom is death.

Man cannot possess anything as long as he fears death. But to him who does not fear it, everything belongs. If there was no suffering, man would not know his limits, would not know himself.

Those who cannot live fully often become destroyers of life.

The Sorrowful Virgin whose pierced heart mourned the death of Jesus now grieves for the sufferings of the crucified poor and for the creatures of this world laid waste by human power.

Death – to blink for an exceptionally long period of time.

When I paint a woman in an armchair, the armchair is there to show illness and death-or as a protection.

Come back. Even as a shadow, even as a dream.

Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.