Bernard Berenson Quotes

A complete life may be one ending in so full an identification with the not-self that there is no self left to die.

I wish I could stand on a busy corner hat in hand and beg people to throw me all their wasted hours.

Governments last as long as the undertaxed can defend themselves against the overtaxed.

We define genius as the capacity for productive reaction against one's training.

Enemies could become the best companions. Companionship is based on a common interest and the greater the interest the closer the companionship. What makes enemies of people if not the eagerness the passion for the same thing?

As I got warmed up and felt perfectly at home in talk I heard myself boasting lying exaggerating. Oh not deliberately far from it. It would be unconvivial and dull to stop and arrest the flow of talk and speak only after carefully considering whether I was telling the truth.

I wonder whether Art has a higher function than to make me feel appreciate and enjoy natural objects for their art value?

Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago.