It reflects no great honor on ...

It reflects no great honor on a painter to be able to execute only one thing well -- such as a head, an academy figure, or draperies, animals, landscapes, or the like -- in other words, confining himself to some particular object of study. This is so because there is scarcely a person so devoid of genius as to fail of success if he applies himself earnestly to one branch of study and practices it continually.
It reflects no great honor on a painter to be able to execute only one thing well -- such as a head, an academy figure, or draperies, animals, landscapes, or the like -- in other words, confining himself to some particular object of study. This is so because there is scarcely a person so devoid of genius as to fail of success if he applies himself earnestly to one branch of study and practices it continually.

Quotes from the same author

All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.
Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.
He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.