"Just at the time I got your letter Mr. Angus sent me the 'Scotsman' . You say some critics have thought it fair to make it the basis of a personal attack, and it is very critic-like. Critic means knife, means dissection, means wisdom, means perfection. Art is stupid, art-less. That is a hard job for the critic to understand. I like your book because it is 'stupid', like Japanese; which means done for the love of it in itself; not for gain or success. You don't go to criticise a Japanese drawing and say it is out of shape, out of drawing, no perspective nor anatomy. This is only for the critic to show his knowledge by killing the things; those stupid fellows do harm, like Whistler says, with their learnings. They must have schools and applications of knowledge. Thackeray calls them scavengers - scavengers are at least necessary, those fellows are for no good.."

“Besides I never put a bullet in my gun, but only pretended, to do so!”

“The Brothers Maris , ed. Charles Holme; text: D.C. Thomson; publishers, Offices of 'The Studio', London - Paris, 1907”

“..Besides of all things I hated and detested was painting. They told me I had a talent for it, and was a clever chap and could make as much money as I liked. Money always the principal thing and so it happens that I got forced into it. Being considered a very clever talented chap, after the war or siege of Paris , a young fellow of the name of Vincent van Gogh came around asking me for advice.. .The law of the pocket: 'full' signifies 'rich'; empty 'poor', all the world over the same; black, brown, yellow or white skinned. Heathen, barbarians, Mahommetans; pocket full, 'power' - empty, 'helpless'.”

“many free images of paintings and drawings of Matthijs Maris, in the RijksStudio of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam”

“Thijs, Thijs, you came to a people , when they were doing well, now you must help them, when they are in distress.”

“I recollect after the war in '71 there were some debts to pay of course: what had I to do? I said to Wisselingh who was with Goupil, 'tell them that I'll take them back later on.' I've never been able to do so, for one Van Gogh , his partner, gave me 200 francs, someone bought it for 350, and sold it in America for 700 pounds. He had asked Wisselingh how long it had taken me to do it; he said a week, so I was the chap for him; no wonder he was always talking making fortune, fancy 100 pounds per day, make some more or this sort: do it only for a year. So I had to commit suicides upon suicides : what did it matter to him or anyone else ? Someone said once to me: 'You must have somebody fool enough to say, here is money for you, and go your own way': that is the very thing one may not do. There is always someone telling you how to set about, and then come the schools telling you that it is not allowed to be one's self, but that one has to be a Roman or Greek, or imitate what they have performed..”