“The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together.” – Saadi Life’s Contrasts: Embracing the Roses and Thorns of Existence

“The beauty one can find in art is one of the pitifully few real and lasting products of human endeavor.” – J. Paul Getty The Curiously Undefined Beauty of Art: A Love Letter to the Ephemeral

“Art cannot result from sophisticated, frivolous, or superficial effects.” – Hans Hofmann The Art of Depth: Why Superficial Brushstrokes Won’t Cut It

“What’s a butterfly garden without butterflies?” – Roy Rogers The Case of the Missing Butterflies: A Garden Mystery

“One marked feature of the people, both high and low, is a love for flowers.” – Robert Fortune Blossoms and Beyond: The Universal Love Affair with Flowers

“To be interested solely in technique would be a very superficial thing to me.” – Andrew Wyeth The Art of Technique: A Love Letter to Substance

“I know that if odour were visible, as colour is, I’d see the summer garden in rainbow clouds.” – Robert Bridges A Whiff of Imagination: The Scent of Summer Gardens

“People who think about art as an investment are pathetic.” – Walter Annenberg The Art of Not Being a Pathetic Investor: Why Viewing Art as Currency is a Missed Brushstroke

“Everything in Nature contains all the powers of Nature. Everything is made of one hidden stuff.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson The Hidden Stuff: Nature’s Ultimate Secret Sauce

“Of what use were the arts if they were only the reproduction and the imitation of life?” – Alfred de Vigny The Art of Being Unartistic: Why Imitation is Not Always the Sincerest Form of Flattery