“The benefits he acquires in such a place are not of a selfish kind, but extend themselves to his home, and to those whom it contains.”

Seeing education as something whose benefits spread through families · Speech, Manchester, 5 October 1843

• Friendship
• Hope

“I ask it as part payment of a great debt which all sensible and civilised creatures owe to art.”

Presenting support for artists as a social obligation rather than mere charity · Speech, Artists' General Benevolent Institution, London, 29 March 1862

• Art
• Gratitude

“It strikes me when I hear these things as if these great men looked upon the arts as a sort of dancing dogs, or Punch’s show, to be turned to for amusement when one has nothing else to do.”

Mocking the tendency to treat art as trivial entertainment · Speech, London, 8 May 1858

• Art
• Truth