My good Lord and friend Sala, - [I] enjoyed the blissful pleasure enjoyed by your friendship.. .When I reached the city [The Hague] again yesterday, … - Johan Hendrik Weissenbruch

version in original Dutch / citaat van J. H. Weissenbruch, in het Nederlands: Heer en vriend Sala, - Het zalige genot door uwe vriendschap volop genoten.. .Toen ik gisteren weder de stad [Den Haag] had bereikt, had ik niet minder dan 12 maal de fluiten [vissen] uit den mand gelegt om dezen ten toon te stellen.. .Dien dag, vriend Sala, behoord onder de schoonste van mijn leven, alle oogenblikken hebben mij tot heden levendig gehouden, altijd zittende [vissen] in den boot, schommelende met den dobbers in 't gezicht..

Weissenbruch to Anton Mauve: He [ Vincent van Gogh ] is drawing damn well, I could paint after his studies.

I remember I stood stunned as a boy, in front of the paintings of the old [Dutch] masters in our museums, how they let speak Nature to you. If I have learned to see nature by someone, it was by our old masters. But most by Nature itself. (translation from Dutch, Fons Heijnsbroek, 2018)