"..the distressing aspect of Vincent , who often presents things so tightly and so painfully, you can not find in my work , and I don't search for it. The spiritual aspect is the essence in Vincent's work, and the pictorial is subordinate to that.. .Now I feel myself most comfortable with an extreme refinement of colors and form; it always ends with that: to give what I feel as my greatest happiness. Now it might be possible that this will remain the highest goal for me, not so bad; every little bird sings its own song.. .Following Vincent and being no Vincent in the mind would be absurd and criminal."

“..Painting never means just never picturing the material things, but it is a psychological function, an expression of how his mind responds to things. So that is quite a difference with: painting is showing the beauty of things.”

“Besides, the entire impressionism usually presented merely the things from the outside. And sometimes they did it so perfectly that a seventeen century painting looks clumsy, as far as seeing is concerned.”

“.. a crow, a quick, tame animal with immaculate feathering walks around here at home; I hope to be able to benefit a lot of it, because I love crows so much. The surroundings here are very different than around Delft; more forest, sometimes even heath, often overgrown with beautiful, white birch trees. I have not yet come to work outside however, because, when I think of my crow I walk home again, but may be it change, who knows.”

“I really love Thijs Maris and his works possess for me a peculiar charm.. .You will certainly love Thijs Maris yourself and then you know.. ..how lovely it is to walk along in his childlike ardour.”

“While holding a keen eye on all the yelling at the markets, let's prefer to stay away from many of those things that attract at times other painters - if necessary, unknown - to be able to continue the work quietly at times.”

“c. 100 images of art-works by Jan Mankes”