Leon Battista Alberti

Painting is possessed of a divine power, for not only . . . does it make the absent present, but it also, after many centuries, makes the dead almost alive, so that they are recognized with great admiration . . .

A man can do all things if he but wills them.

When I investigate and when I discover that the forces of the heavens and the planets are within ourselves, then truly I seem to be living among the gods.

We must always take from nature what we paint and always choose the most beautiful things.