"And let me assure you of this--that it won't help you to become entangled with Miss Light." Roderick pressed his hand to his forehead with vehemence and then shook it in the air, despairingly; a gesture that had become frequent with him since he had been in Italy.

"No, no, it 's no use; you don't understand me! But I don't blame you.

You can't!" "You think it will help you, then ?" said Rowland, wondering.
"I think that when you expect a man to produce beautiful and wonderful works of art, you ought to allow him a certain freedom of action, you ought to give him a long rope, you ought to let him follow his fancy and look for his material wherever he thinks he may find it! A mother can't nurse her child unless she follows a certain diet; an artist can't bring his visions to maturity unless he has a certain experience.

You demand of us to be imaginative, and you deny us that which feeds the imagination.

In labor we must be as passionate as the inspired sibyl; in life we must be mere machines.