Michelangelo Buonarroti: "In every block of marble I see a statue"

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

• "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".

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

• "The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark".

• "The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image".

• "The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has".

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

• "In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it".

• "It is necessary to keep one's compass in one's eyes and not in the hand, for the hands execute, but the eye judges".

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

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

• "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".