Michelangelo

The art of creation lies in the gift of perceiving the particular and generalizing it, thus creating the particular again. It is therefore a powerful transforming force and a generator of creative solutions in relation to a given problem.

The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone.

Art lives on constraint and dies of freedom.

If it be true that any beautiful thing raises the pure and just desire of man from earth to God, the eternal fount of all, such I believe my love.

Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come.

There is an angel imprisoned in it and I must set it free.

If in my youth I had realized that the sustaining splendour of beauty of with which I was in love would one day flood back into my heart, there to ignite a flame that would torture me without end, how gladly would I have put out the light in my eyes.

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.

No thought is born in me that does not bear the image of death.

If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.

It is therefore indisputable that the limbs of architecture are derived from the limbs of man.

Read the heart and not the letter for the pen cannot draw near the good intent.

If I am more alive because love burns and chars me, as a fire, given wood or wind, feels new elation, it's that he who lays me low is my salvation, and invigorates the more, the more he scars me.

The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one's self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course.

Draw, Antonio; draw, Antonio; draw and don’t waste time.

So now, from this mad passion Which made me take art for an idol and a king I have learnt the burden of error that it bore And what misfortune springs from man's desire... The world's frivolities have robbed me of the time That I was given for reflecting upon God.

Lord free me of myself, so I can please you!

If there is some good in me, it is because I was born in the subtle atmosphere of your country of Arezzo. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, with which I make my figures.

An artist does his most difficult work when he steps back from the blank canvas and thinks about what he is going to create.

Your gifts lie in the place where your values, passions and strengths meet. Discovering that place is the first step toward sculpting your masterpiece, Your Life.

The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.