John Constable

“My art flatters nobody by imitation; it courts nobody by smoothness, tickles nobody by petiteness... there is no finish in nature.”

“Painting is but another word for feeling.”

“All my indispositions have their source in my mind. It is when I am restless and unhappy that I become susceptible of cold, damp, heats, and such nonsense.”

“Painting is a science, and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature.”

“The sky is the source of light in nature - and governs everything.”

“I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, - light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful.”

“The sound of water escaping from mill dams, etc., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things.”

“Landscape is my mistress - 'tis to her I look for fame.”

“Whatever may be thought of my art, it is my own; and I would rather possess a freehold, though but a cottage, than live in a palace belonging to another.”

“When I sit down to make a sketch from nature, the first thing I try to do is to forget that I have ever seen a picture.”

“I know dock leaves pretty well, but I should not attempt to introduce them into a picture without having them before me.”

“The landscape painter must walk in the fields with a humble mind. No arrogant man was ever permitted to see Nature in all her beauty.”

“Nature is the fountain's head, the source from whence all originality must spring.”

“The world is wide. No two days are alike, nor even two hours, neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of all the world; and the genuine productions of art, like those of nature, are all distinct from each other.”