“Perfection is no small thing, but it is made up of small things.”

“We are only what we are; not what we would be; nor every thing we hope for. We are but a step in a scale, that reaches further above us than below.”

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”

“I created a vision of David in my mind and simply carved away everything that was not David.”

“Only God creates. The rest of us just copy.”

“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.”