Michelangelo: "The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has"

• "My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth's loveliness".

• "The best artist has that thought alone which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone".

• "The best of artists has no conception that the marble alone does not contain within itself".

• "The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark".

• "The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image".

• "The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has".

• "The more the marbles wastes, the more the statue grows".