“A picture is a thing which requires as much knavery, as much malice, and as much vice as the perpetration of a crime. Make it untrue and add an accent of truth.”
posthumous quotes, The Shop-Talk of Edgar Degas', (1961)
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Edgar Degas 67
French artist 1834–1917Related quotes
On Beau Nash's Picture at full length between the Busts of Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Pope., in Dyce, Specimens of British Poetesses. This epigram is generally ascribed to Chesterfield. See Campbell, English Poets, note, p. 521. Reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Müller Written by Himself, First Part.
First Part of Narrative

“For of those to whom much is given, much is required.”
1961, The City upon a Hill speech
Context: For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us — recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state — our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions:
First, were we truly men of courage — with the courage to stand up to one’s enemies — and the courage to stand up, when necessary, to one’s associates — the courage to resist public pressure, as well as private greed?
Secondly, were we truly men of judgment — with perceptive judgment of the future as well as the past — of our mistakes as well as the mistakes of others — with enough wisdom to know what we did not know and enough candor to admit it?
Third, were we truly men of integrity — men who never ran out on either the principles in which we believed or the men who believed in us — men whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust?
Finally, were we truly men of dedication — with an honor mortgaged to no single individual or group, and comprised of no private obligation or aim, but devoted solely to serving the public good and the national interest?
Courage — judgment — integrity — dedication — these are the historic qualities … which, with God’s help … will characterize our Government’s conduct in the 4 stormy years that lie ahead.

1770s, African Slavery in America (March 1775)

The Illustrated London News (14 December 1907)

“To copy the truth can be a good thing, but to invent the truth is better, much better.”
Copiare il vero può essere una buona cosa, ma inventare il vero è meglio, molto meglio.
Letter to Clara Maffei, October 20, 1876, cited from James P. Cassaro (ed.) Music, Libraries and the Academy (Middleton, Wisconsin: A-R Editions, 2007) p. 218; translation from the same source.