Vincent van Gogh — "You know that Jeannin has the peony, Quost has the hollyhock, but I have the sun…"

"He understands, that goes without saying, that he has had a bout of insanity and this thought grieves and revolts him at the same time."

"I am so angry with myself because I cannot do what I should like to do, and at such a moment one feels as if one were lying bound hand and foot at the bottom of a deep dark well, utterly helpless."

"I want to do figures, figures and more figures, it's stronger than me, this series of bipeds from the baby to Socrates and from the black-haired woman with white skin to the woman with yellow hair and…"

"I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream."

"I've never felt a desire (and I don't believe I ever shall) to bring the public to my work... a certain popularity seems to me the least desirable of things."