James Wood, comp. Dictionary of Quotations. 1899.
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Excellence is never granted to man but as the reward of labour.
It is by being conversant with the inventions of others that we learn to invent, as by reading the thoughts of others we learn to think.
Nothing can be made of nothing; he who has laid up no material can produce no combinations.
Nothing is denied to well-directed labour; nothing is ever to be attained without it.
Our hearts, frequently warmed by the contact of those whom we wish to resemble, will undoubtedly catch something of their way of thinking; and we shall receive in our own bosoms some radiation at least of their fire and splendour.
Our minds should be habituated to the contemplation of excellence.
Taste depends upon those finer emotions which make the organisation of the soul.
The human face is my landscape.
The young mind is naturally pliable and imitative, but in a more advanced state it grows rigid, and must be warmed and softened before it will receive a deep impression.
We are not, indeed, satisfied with our own opinions, whatever we may pretend, till they are ratified and confirmed by suffrage of the rest of mankind. We dispute and wrangle for ever; we endeavour to get men to come to us when we do not go to them.
We should, to the last moment of our lives, continue a settled intercourse with all the true examples of grandeur.
Whoever has so far formed his taste as to be able to relish and feel the beauties of the great masters, has gone a great way in his study.