Benjamin Haydon
Benjamin Haydon
Benjamin Robert Haydonwas an English painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactless dealings with patrons, and by the enormous scale on which he preferred to work. He was troubled by financial problems throughout his life, which led to several periods of imprisonment for debt. He committed suicide in 1846...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionArtist
Date of Birth26 January 1786
ordinary genius done
Genius is nothing more than common faculties refined to a greater intensity. There are no astonishing ways of doing astonishing things. All astonishing things are done by ordinary materials.
men genius alive
Men of genius are often considered superstitious, but the fact is, the fineness of their nerve renders them more alive to the supernatural than ordinary men.
swerve duty consequence
Do your duty, and don't swerve from it. Do that which your conscience tells you to be right, and leave the consequences to God.
believe men doe
How difficult it is to get men to believe that any other man can or does act from disinterestedness!
devotional true-religion persons
Some persons are so devotional they have not one bit of true religion in them.
devil triumph satan
Satan is to be punished eternally in the end, but for a while he triumphs.
god real justice
Mistrusts sometimes come over one's mind of the justice of God. But let a real misery come again, and to whom do we fly? To whom do we instinctively and immediately look up?
views one-direction enemy
Never disregard what your enemies say. They may be severe, they may be prejudiced, they may be determined to see only in one direction, but still in that direction see clearly. They do not speak all the truth, but they generally speak the truth from one point of view; so far as that goes, attend to them.
suffering age reputation
Never suffer youth to be an excuse for inadequacy, nor age and fame to be an excuse for indolence.
evil human-nature inherent
There surely is in human nature an inherent propensity to extract all the good out of all the evil.
character winning names
The great difficulty is first to win a reputation; the next to keep it while you live; and the next to preserve it after you die, when affection and interest are over, and nothing but sterling excellence can preserve your name. Never suffer youth to be an excuse for inadequacy, nor age and fame to be an excuse for indolence.
government two evil
All government is an evil, but, of the two form's of that evil, democracy or monarchy, the sounder is monarchy; the more able to do its will, democracy.
men quality done
When a man is no longer anxious to do better than well, he is done for.
art reality perfection
Art is a reality, not a definition; inasmuch as it approaches a reality, it approaches perfection, and inasmuch as it approaches a mere definition, it is imperfect and untrue.