is remark. We
believe that no better repetition of this fine thought can be given than
by calling architecture a _speechless music_.

494

Art is essentially noble; therefore the artist has nothing to fear from
a low or common subject. Nay, by taking it up, he ennobles it; and so it
is that we see the greatest artists boldly exercising their sovereign
rights.

495

In every artist there is a germ of daring, without which no talent is
conceivable.

496

All the artists who are already known to me from so many sides, I
propose to consider exclusively from the ethical side; to explain from
the subject-matter and method of their work the part played therein by
time and place, nation and master, and their own indestructible
personality; to mould them to what they became and to preserve them in
what they were.

497

Art is a medium of what no tongue can utter; and thus it seems a piece
of folly to try to convey its meaning afresh by means of words. But, by
trying to do so, the understanding gains; and this, again, benefits the
faculty in practice.

498

An artist who produces valuable work is not always able to give an
account of his own or others' performances.

499

We know of no world except in relation to mankind; and we wish for no
Art that does not bear the mark of this relation.

500

Higher aims are in themselves more valuable, even if unfulfilled, than
lower ones quite attained.

501

Blunt naivety, stubborn vigour, scrupulous observance of rule, and any
other epithets which may apply to older German Art, are a part of every
earlier and simpler artistic method. The older Venetians, Florentines,
and others had it all too.

502

Because Albrecht Duerer, with his incomparable talent, could never rise
to the idea of the symmetry of beauty, or even to the thought of a
fitting conformity to the object in view, are we never to spurn the
ground!

503

Albrecht Duerer had the advantage of a very profound realistic
perception, an affectionate human sympathy with all present conditions.
He was kept back by a gloomy phantasy, devoid both of form and
foundation.

504

It would be interesting to show how Martin Schoen stands near him, and
how the merits of German Art were restricted to these two; and useful
also to show that it was not evening every day.

505

In every Italian school the butterfly breaks loose from the chrysalis.

506

After Klopstock released us from rhyme, and Voss gave