Painting (like poetry) chooses 

from universals 

what is most apposite. 

It brings together, 

in a single imaginary being, 

circumstances and characteristics 

which occur in nature

 in many different persons.

The big question is 

whether you are going to be able to say 

a hearty yes 

to your adventure.

What happens when good people 

are put into an evil place? 

Do they triumph 

or does the situation dominate 

their past history and morality?

Who are you going to believe, 

me or your own eyes?

I determined never to stop 

until I had come to the end 

and achieved my purpose.

The enslaving of the other is also the enslaving of the self.

The basic fault lines today are 

not between people with different beliefs 

but between people who hold these beliefs 

with an element of uncertainty 

and people who hold these beliefs 

with a pretence of certitude.

Every man, 

when he comes to be sensible of his natural rights, 

and to feel his own importance, 

will consider himself as fully equal 

to any other person whatever.

The eye by long use comes to see 

even in the darkest cavern: 

and there is no subject so obscure 

but we may discern some glimpse of truth 

by long poring on it.

It seems to me that 

at this time 

we need education in the obvious 

After all, the best part of a holiday 

is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, 

as to see all the other fellows busy working.

Life on earth is such a good story 

you cannot afford to miss the beginning... 

Beneath our superficial differences 

we are all of us 

walking communities of bacteria. 

The world shimmers, 

a pointillist landscape 

made of tiny living beings.

Exhilaration is that feeling you get 

just after a great idea hits you, 

and just before you realise what's wrong with it.

Today the world changes so quickly 

that in growing up 

we take leave 

not just of youth 

but of the world we were young in.

It is good to rub and polish our brain against that of others.

The pain passes, 

but the beauty remains.