Michelangelo Buonarroti

"Trifles make perfection, but perfection is no trifle."

"The marble is not yet carved, but already I see the angel."

"What we think, we become."

"The goal of the artist is to bring to consciousness what the unconscious knows."

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

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

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

"The danger is not that the building collapses, but that it was never built at all."

"Criticism is easy, art is difficult."

"I am still learning."

"The mind of man is like a candle; without light it cannot see anything."

"To create a masterpiece of organization, one needs the power to enforce it."

"A man paints with his brains and not with his hands."

"Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do."

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

"The perfection of a sculptor's work is in bringing his clay to life."

"If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all."

"The beauty of a work lies in its struggle."

"In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future, and bonds to one another."

"Work gives substance to life; without it, we are but shadows."

"The greatest delight the fields can give is the making of friends."

"Faith in oneself is the first step toward achievement."

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art."

"The most beautiful experiences are those of solitude."

"To practice your art, you must understand the soul of mankind."

"Patience is the virtue of the strong."

"The marble not yet carved can hold the form, as the form is in the mind before the chisel strikes."

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

"My soul can find no staircase to heaven unless it be through earth's loveliness."

"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."