The so-called conscientiousness of the great majority of painters is nothing but perfection laboriously applied to the art of being boring.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : 1822-1824 and 1847-1863 - A Selection - 1980, edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton - 1857

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The Natural History Museum is open to the public on Tuesdays and Fridays. Elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus; extraordinary animals! Rubens rendered them marvellously. I had a feeling of happiness as soon as I entered the place and the further I went the stronger it grew. I felt my whole being rise above commonplaces and trivialities and the petty worries of my daily life.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : 1822-1824 and 1847-1863 - A Selection - 1980, edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton - 1847

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For his contemporaries, Racine was a romantic, but for every age he is classical, that is to say, he is faultless.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : 1822-1824 and 1847-1863 - A Selection - 1980, edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton - 1857

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Curiously enough, the Sublime is generally achieved through want of proportion.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : 1822-1824 and 1847-1863 - A Selection - 1980, edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton - 1857

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The contour should come last, only a very experienced eye can place it rightly.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : 1822-1824 and 1847-1863 A Selection - 1980, edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton - Introduction.

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Of late, men seem to have been possessed by an incomprehensible impulse to strip themselves of everything with which nature has endowed them in order to make them superior to the beasts of burden. A philosopher is a gentleman who sits down four times a day to the best meals he can possibly obtain, and who considers that virtue, glory and noble sentiments should be indulged in only when they do not interfere with those four indispensable functions and all the rest of his little personal comforts. At this rate, a mule is a better philosopher by far, because in addition to all this he puts up with blows and hardship without complaint.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : 1822-1824 and 1847-1863 A Selection - 1980, edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton - 1824

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Mythological subjects always new. Modern subjects difficult because of the absence of the nude and the wretchedness of modern costume.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : 1822-1824 and 1847-1863 - A Selection - 1980, edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton - 1857

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Painting, in the beginning, was a trade like any other. Some men became picture-makers as others became glaziers or carpenters. Painters painted shields, saddles and banners. The primitive painter was more of a craftsman than we are; he learned his trade superlatively well before he thought of letting himself go. The reverse is true today.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : 1822-1824 and 1847-1863 - A Selection - 1980, edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton - 1857

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There is no merit in being truthful when one is truthful by nature, or rather when one can be nothing else; it is a gift, like poetry or music. But it needs courage to be truthful after carefully considering the matter, unless a kind of pride is involved; for example, the man who says to himself, "I am ugly," and then says, "I am ugly" to his friends, lest they should think themselves the first to make the discovery.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : 1822-1824 and 1847-1863 - A Selection - 1980, edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton - 1824

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Nature creates unity even in the parts of a whole.

The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : 1822-1824 and 1847-1863 - A Selection - 1980, edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton - 1857

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