"The painters believe that they exist because people speak of them. It is more simple and more difficult than that."

"Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better."

"My models, you see, are not there to be admired, but to be interpreted."

"I want to reach that state of condensation of sensations which constitutes a picture."

"And not everyone can declare like Correggio, 'Anch'io son pittore' (I too am a painter)."