Jacques-Louis David

“In the arts, the way in which an idea is rendered, and the manner in which it is expressed, is much more important than the idea itself.”

“Art should have no other guide than the torch of reason.”

“I will never, for the future, paint the portrait of a tyrant until his head lies before me on the scaffold.”

“The arts must contribute to the extension of public reason, and to the progress of the human spirit.”

“What I have to do is produce a work of art that is so powerful that it will live forever.”

“I want to work for posterity.”

“To be able to tell the truth and to make it believable is the greatest of arts.”