As when, O lady mine, With chiselled touch The stone unhewn and cold Becomes a living mould, The more the marble wastes, The more the statue grows. - Michelangelo
I am a poor man and of little worth, who is laboring in that art that God has given me in order to extend my life as long as possible. - Michelangelo
I dare affirm that any artist... who has nothing singular, eccentric, or at least reputed to be so, in his person, will never become a superior talent. - Michelangelo
I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it. - Michelangelo
I sometimes set myself thinking and imagining that I find amongst men but one single art or science, and that is drawing or painting, all others being members proceeding therefrom. - Michelangelo
In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. - Michelangelo
It is necessary to keep one's compass in one's eyes and not in the hand, for the hands execute, but the eye judges. - Michelangelo
It is not sufficient merely to be a great master in painting and very wise, but I think that it is necessary for the painter to be very moral in his mode of life, or even, if such were possible, a saint, so that the Holy Spirit may inspire his intellect. - Michelangelo
Many believe - and I believe - that I have been designated for this work by God. In spite of my old age, I do not want to give it up; I work out of love for God and I put all my hope in Him. - Michelangelo
My beard towards heaven, I feel my nape support / The back of my head, I grow the breast of a harpy / And my brush as it drips continually / Upon my face, makes it a gorgeous floor. - Michelangelo
Painters are not in any way unsociable through pride, but either because they find few pursuits equal to painting, or in order not to corrupt themselves with the useless conversation of idle people, and debase the intellect from the lofty imaginations in which they are always absorbed. - Michelangelo
Painting and sculpture, labour and good faith, have been my ruin and I continually go from bad to worse. Better it would have been for me if I had set myself to making matches in my youth. I should not be in such distress of mind. - Michelangelo
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. - Michelangelo
The best of artists has no conception that the marble alone does not contain within itself. - Michelangelo
The best of artists hath no thought to show which the rough stone in its superfluous shell doth not include; to break the marble spell is all the hand that serves the brain can do. - Michelangelo
The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image. - Michelangelo
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