William Wetmore Story

“Action is the last resource of those who do not know how to dream.”

“Sorrow for a good man's death is in itself a good.”

“The finest edge is made with the blunt whetstone.”

“The object of art is to crystallize emotion into thought, and then fix it in form.”

“Character is the backbone of the soul.”

“Truth is the nursing-mother of genius.”

“Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of others.”

“Rome was a poem pressed into service as a city.”

“The past is our cradle, not our prison; we must not be content to lurk behind the bars of a dead age.”

“Men are not so much influenced by what they know as by what they believe.”

“Art is the great and universal refreshment.”

“The artist must be a solitary soul. He must work in silence, and in silence must he suffer.”