"It is for the artist.. ..in portrait painting to put on canvas something more than the face the model wears for that one day; to paint the man, in short, as well as his features."

"As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight, and the subject-matter has nothing to do with harmony of sound or of colour. The great musicians knew this. Beethoven and the rest wrote music — simply music; symphony in this key, concerto or sonata in that.. .Art should be independent of all claptrap — should stand alone, and appeal to the artistic sense of eye or ear, without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it, as devotion, pity, love, patriotism, and the like. All these have no kind of concern with it; and that is why I insist on calling my works 'arrangements' and 'harmonies.'"

"The masterpiece should appear as the flower to the painter—perfect in its bud as in its bloom - with no reason to explain it's presence - no mission to fulfill - a joy to the artist, a delusion to the philanthropist - a puzzle to the botanist - an accident of sentiment and alliteration to the literary man."

"Industry in art is a necessity - not a virtue - and any evidence of the same, in the production, is a blemish, not a quality; a proof, not of achievement, but of absolutely insufficient work, for work alone will efface the footsteps of work."

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

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

"[another part / version of Whistler's lecture:] Nature contains the elements, in colour and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. But the artist is born to pick, and choose, and group with science, these elements, that the result may be beautiful—as the musician gathers his notes, and forms his chords, until he bring forth from chaos glorious harmony. 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. That Nature is always right, is an assertion, artistically, as untrue, as it is one whose truth is universally taken for granted. Nature is very rarely right, to such an extent even, that it might almost be said that Nature is usually wrong: that is to say, the condition of things that shall bring about the perfection of harmony worthy a picture is rare, and not common at all."

"Nature is usually wrong."

"Listen! There was never an artistic period. There was never an art-loving nation."

"Art is upon the Town!"

"Art is a goddess of dainty thought, reticent of habit, abjuring all obtrusiveness, purposing in no way to better others. She is, withal selfishly occupied with her own perfection only — having no desire to teach."

"May I therefore acknowledge the tender glow of health induced by reading, as I sat here in the morning sun, the flattering attention paid me by your gentleman of ready wreath and quick biography!"

"Shall the painter then.. ..decide upon painting? Shall he be the critic and sole authority? Aggressive as is this supposition, I fear that, in the length of time, his assertion alone has established what even the gentleman of the quill accept as the canons of art, and recognize as the masterpieces of work. Seurat's painting of the Grande Jatte proved extremely influential."

"If the man who paints only the tree, or flower, or other surface he sees before him were an artist, the king of artists would be the photographer. It is for the artist to do something beyond this: in portrait painting to put on canvas something more than the face the model wears for that one day: to paint the man, in short, as well as his features; in arrangement of colours to treat a flower as his key, not as his model. This is now understood indifferently well – at least by dressmakers. In every costume you see attention is paid to the key-note of colour which runs through the composition, as the chant of the Anabaptists through the 'Prophète', or the Hugenots' hymn in the opera of that name."

"Why should not I call my works 'symphonies', 'arrangements', 'harmonies', and 'nocturnes'?.. .The vast majority of English folk cannot and will not consider a picture as a picture, apart from any story which it may be supposed to tell. My picture of 'Harmony in Grey and Gold' is an illustration of my meaning – as snow scene with a single black figure and lighted tavern. I care nothing for the past, present, or future of the black figure, placed there because the black was wanted at that spot. All that I know is that my combination of grey and gold is the basis of the picture, Now this is precisely what my friends cannot grasp."

"John Ruskin: 'The labour of two days is that for which you ask two hundred guineas?' Whistler: 'No. I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime.'"

"“The story of the beautiful,” said Whistler, with the swagger that made all but his contemporaries love him, “is already complete—hewn in the marbles of the Parthenon, and broidered, with the birds, upon the fan of Hokusai—at the foot of Fuji-yama.”"

"And I have a dream of a New American Language, one with a little bit more Spanish. I have a dream of a new pop music, that tells the truth with a good beat and some nice harmonies."

"And I realized that the only purpose to revolution is to be able to love who you want, how you want, when you want and where you want..."

"Merkle should have touched second base."

"Stop... Stop what you're doing... Stop what you're doing and breathe."

"Are you gonna follow your soul? Or just the style of the day?"

"You're about as reliable as paper shoes in bad weather."

"Songs of liberation echo from the dust."

"I'm keeping an eye on the future, an eye on the past, and the present in my pocket."

"Give it time, girl, the fire feels divine. The sweetest things, they burn before they shine."

"Just undo yourself and see a second sun ascend."

"Before you swim, you gotta be okay to sink."

"I'm not an alarmist, but someone should break the glass, and pull that red T-Lever down!"

"Have a heart and try me, cause without love I won't survive."

"To get their attention, start lobbing the light grenades (That burst and blind them with the truth! An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!)"

"Wait, there is a light, there is a fire, illuminated attic. Fate or something better, I could care less,Just stay with me a while"

"Girl, it's time we met and made a mess."

"If I turn into another, Dig me up from under what is covering the better part of me. Sing this song. Remind me that we'll always have each other When everything else is gone."

"Kill your doubt with the coldest of weapons: Confidence."

"Bring your mouth and selective irreverence - We'll both see stars."

"Some people fall in love and touch the sky. Some people fall in love and find quicksand."

"I wouldn't change a thing now that you're here."

"Your love is a verb here in my room."

"This party is old and uninviting Participants all in black and white You enter in full-blown techincolor Nothing is the same after tonight."

"This isn't coincidence. There's no such thing."

"Insecurites are about as useful as trying to put the pin back in the grenade."

"Since when did what we paid for colored cloth gauge our gravity?"

"Price tags advertise your pride."

"This island isn't big enough for both of us...so who will swim in eel-infested oceans?"

"It pains me to believe that you have never stepped out of the skin you live with."

"If you're looking for an open book - Look no further, I am yours."