The rare few, who, early in life have rid themselves of the friendship of the many.

- James Whistler

Paint should not be applied thick. It should be like a breath on the surface of a pane of glass.

- James Whistler

People will forgive anything but beauty and talent. So I am doubly unpardonable.

- James Whistler

We look at a painting to know the painter; it's his company we are after, not his skill.

- James Whistler

I remember that at one time I always made a drawing before going to bed!! - Of myself I mean - though I finally destroyed most of them.

- James Whistler

To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it shows great and earnest labour, is to say that it is incomplete and unfit for view.

- James Whistler

To say to the painter that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player that he may sit on the piano.

- James Whistler

Art happens-no hovel is safe from it, no prince may depend upon it, the vastest intelligence cannot bring it about.

- James Whistler

The world is divided into two classes - invalids and nurses.

- James Whistler