"So, they'd prefer me to do a nude, would they? Fine I'll do them a nude.. .I'll redo it [his painted copy of Giorgion…"

"How I miss you here [his friend in Paris - Manet visited Madrid and the famous museums there], and how delighted you …"

"I should be going with Champfleury and Stevens, but they keep putting it off. Anyway, they are bloody bores. Excuse t…"

"My dear Zola, - I am making up my mind to hold a private show. I have at least two score pictures to exhibit. I've al…"

"Get it down quickly, don't worry about the background. Just go for the tonal values. You see? When you look at it, an…"

"You can do plein-air painting indoors, [to his pupil then, Berthe Morisot ] by painting white in the morning, lilac d…"

"I spent a long time, my dear Suzanne, looking for your photograph - I eventually found the album in the table in the …"

"Goodbye my dear Suzanne [his wife], your portraits are hanging in every corner of the bedroom, so I see you first and…"

"I never imagined that France could be represented by such doddering old fools, not excepting that little twit Thiers..."

"I don't know why I'm here. Everything before our eyes is ridiculous. The light is wrong, the shadows are wrong. When …"