Quotes By Michelangelo

I live in sin, to kill myself I live; no longer my life my own, but sin's; my good is given to me by heaven, my evil by myself, by my free will, of which I am deprived.

What do you despise? By this you are truly known.

Genius is eternal patience.

I have never felt salvation in nature. I love cities above all.

If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.

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.

There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.

From such a gentle thing, from such a fountain of all delight, my every pain is born.

I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.

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.

Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.

What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?

I cannot live under pressures from patrons, let alone paint.

Good painting is the kind that looks like sculpture.

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.

I live and love in God's peculiar light.

If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all.

The more the marbles wastes, the more the statue grows.

Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.

Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.

If in my youth I had realized that the sustaining splendour of beauty of with which I was in love would one day flood back into my heart, there to ignite a flame that would torture me without end, how gladly would I have put out the light in my eyes.

A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.

The best of artists has no conception that the marble alone does not contain within itself.

My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth's loveliness.

I am still learning.

The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.

It is well with me only when I have a chisel in my hand.

Faith in oneself is the best and safest course.

The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one's self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course.

A beautiful thing never gives so much pain as does failing to hear and see it.