"My surprise and thanks are great.. ..and what a package. What attracts me most of all, yes, really gives me great joy that little book with birds, really something to look forward to. There are pictures in which arouse more wonderful thoughts than all real art."

“..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”