"I have started work on a modern subject, a scene on the barricades.. .I may not have fought for my country but at lea…"

"For a man who is sensitive to nature, happiness consists in expressing nature. How infinitely happy, then, is the man…"

"In the midst of the activities that distract me [shooting partridges in the woods], when I remember a few lines of po…"

"..The movement and the rustle of the branches [in the forest, while losing his attention for chasing] delights me. Th…"

"I am thinking of painting for the coming Salon a picture [probably the large and unfinished painting 'Botzaris' by De…"

"I must try to live austerely, as Plato did.. .I need to live a more solitary life.. .Valuable ideas beyond number mis…"

"I have seen here [in London] a play on Faust, the most diabolic thing imaginable. The Mephistopheles is a masterpiece…"

"I am not doing very much as yet. I am put out by this manner of the Salon. They will end by persuading me that I have…"

"Well! A general invasion: Hamlet rears his hideous head, Othello is preparing his dagger, that essentially murderous …"

"The contour should come last, only a very experienced eye can place it rightly."