Mona's Eyes Quotes

“Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“I swear to you, on all that's beautiful on earth. - Monas Grandpa”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes

“Let me give you a few examples of this iniquity: throughout the Renaissance and the classical era, the Church forbade the sexes from mixing in the same studio, and so, with male apprentices or male models around, women could hardly hone their skills, unless there was a family connection. In the same way that, with custom requiring that they remain delicate, destined for only clean and safe occupations, they couldn’t become sculptors. And if they did achieve some acclaim, the most prestigious subjects—such as military scenes—were forbidden them, which confined them to the trivial, and almost always to amateur status. This all derived from a prejudice that claimed that women were the weaker sex. Weak in the sense that they easily succumbed to their passions, weak in the sense that they must be kept away from, and protected from, major world affairs, such as war.”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“Rosalba Carriera, the Venetian artist who was a contemporary of Watteau and Canaletto, whose mastery of pastel technique was unequalled at the time, and who, in an awful twist of fate, ended up in complete darkness after a risky and painful operation to remove cataracts in 1749. A sad irony, certainly, but at least this woman had absorbed all the wonders of the world before this sensory loss.”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“Henry naturally thought of Claude Monet, too, who became virtually blind in old age, giving his landscape paintings of Giverny a pulverized, tumultuous quality—the zenith of Impressionism, rather than its debasement .”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“He recalled the case of Rodolphe Töpffer, the son of a painter with a promising career ahead of him who was diagnosed at a very young age with a visual impairment that prevented him from distinguishing colors. Töpffer gave up on the paintbrush, and instead started drawing a great deal, and telling stories in a most unusual way, box after box. Thus he became, in the early 19th century, the inventor of the comic strip.”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“Knowing how to receive. What this fresco is saying is that we have to learn to receive”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“What are the three stages?” “The first consists of knowing how to give”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“The Three Graces are what are known as allegories”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“But you see”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“Marie-Guillemine Benoist’s painting found its way there.”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“You know”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“The first consists of knowing how to give”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“unprecedented”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“que durante mucho tiempo los animales fueron considerados con desprecio”
― Thomas Schlesser, Los ojos de Mona

“«Le donne non devono essere congelate nel ruolo di buone mogli, ma devono poter difendere i propri desideri e compiere le proprie scelte, qualunque esse siano.»”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes

“«Qualunque cosa accada, l'amore non è mai del tutto appagato. E anche se lo fosse nella breve durata dell'esistenza terrena, il tempo e la morte finirebbero per separare gli amanti.»”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes

“«I dipinti di Goya ci insegnano che i mostri sono ovunque. Si annidano tra gli inquisitori, i soldati, le streghe, le antiche credenze e le moderne speranze, nelle risate, nei testi delle canzoni, alle feste, sotto la Luna o in pieno giorno. Ci dicono che, qualunque cosa accada, l'umanità produce e produrrà il mostruoso, perché è una macchina da incubi.»”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes

“Dobbiamo quindi diffidare della celebrazione, soprattutto quando si trasforma in un obbligo sociale e diventa un'abitudine meccanica.”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes

“«I suoi dipinti non mostrano alcun segno dei tremori che accompagnavano i suoi movimenti. Capisci il paradosso? Pur scosso dai tremiti, Poussin non ha mai tremato di fronte a nulla! E la sua pittura ci esorta ad aspirare a questo tipo di dignità.»”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes

“«Smetti di chiedere scusa quando le tue sensazioni non rispecchiano ciò che ci si aspetta da te. Sei libera di provare le emozioni che vuoi.»”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes

“I swear to you, on all that’s beautiful on earth.”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“man who wrote a book without the letter ‘e,’ remember?” “Georges Perec. The Disappearance.”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“Historians scorn so-called “uchronic” hypotheses”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“Vincent said something very moving on that subject”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“She was originally called Julia Jackson and was the niece and adored goddaughter of Julia Margaret Cameron. Since she was phenomenally beautiful”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“Courbet’s Realism,”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“Exactly. It’s a veritable manifesto campaigning for anyone—poor or powerful—to have the right to be represented in paint”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“To Christ”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel

“Being happy is a duty to others,”
― Thomas Schlesser, Mona's Eyes: A Novel