It certainly will please you to read that after my small painting ['First Love', c. 1856] what you have seen in Rotterdam, a large lithography is bei… - Jozef Israëls

version in original Dutch (citaat van Jozef Israëls in Nederlands): Je kunt er niets van weten wat er uit je komt: al je weten komt verkeerd uit: wat je niet weet en heelemaal niet dacht dat er komen zou, dat komt er in eenen, soms met een vloek en een zucht, en daar heb je 't. - Alles komt terecht. Ik heb dingen gemaakt, die ik vergeten had van voor vijf en twintig jaar. Eerst wist ik ze te goed, maar toen vergat ik ze, ik moest ze vergeten en toen maakte ik ze. - Als iets niet mooi wordt, dan ga je maar weer aan wat anders. Tobben geeft niet. Straks beter? Neen, straks beter, dat moet men ook niet meer zeggen. Je weet niet of het straks beter wordt. (translation from the original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)

..an original Jewish art can only come into existence when the Jews have own ground under their feet and live in freedom [Bainin asked him: 'is that not what Zionism wants to reach?'] Yes, Zionism is a noble thought, but who knows whether they will reach their goal? Herzl visited me [in The Hague, Oct. 1898], he is a noble man and believes in his idea. But who will know.. .Now it is our duty to fight against Antisemitism, to protest against the injustice and violence that is done to us.. ..what is the essence of Jewish art should be determined by writers and art critics: we painters must work and not philosophize. (translation from the original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)

There he Rembrandt stood, when everything was on the canvas [of the 'Night Watch'], but then he shook his head.. ..In his opinion the two men [in the center of the painting: Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch did not yet come forward into the foreground. Then he [Rembrandt] took up his large palette again, dicked his thickest brushes deep into the paint, and once again took on these two front figures with powerful strokes; here more depth, there more light. In this way he put everything to the test, in order to give an even more powerful relief to what needed to stand out. Then he saw that it was good, and that is how he left it. (translation from the original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek)