Michelangelo Buonarroti

Beauty is the purgation of all superfluities.

I live in sin, and I die in sin, and God forgive me.

My beard turns up to heaven; my nape falls in; my brain inclines to my shoulders.

Here I am, old and decrepit, with one foot in the grave.

The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure much.

Sculpture is made by taking away; painting by adding.

I am a poor man and of little worth.

God has endowed me with a talent for cutting stone.

The lyre has been left behind, and the bow is broken.

In my old age, I am like a tree that has been stripped of its leaves.

To paint is to converse with God.

The best of artists doth not say.

I am not the master of my own works.

Fate has led me to the end of my life.