In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it. The best of artists has no conception that the marble alone does not contain within itself. The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection. The best of artists hath no thought to show, which the rough stone in its superfluous shell, doth not include; to break the marble spell, is all the hand that serves the brain can do. The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection. Trifles make perfection, but perfection is no trifle. A beautiful thing never gives so much pain as does failing to hear and see it. When I play with my cat who knows whether I do not make her more sport than she makes me? Heaven-born, the soul a heavenward course must hold; beyond the world she soars; the wise man, I affirm, can find no rest in that which perishes, nor will he lend his heart to ought that doth time depend What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful that the garment with which it is clothed? | 
