Whitman: And Eakins - What of Tom Eakins. He is here. Haven't you something to say to us Eakins? Eakins: I am not a speaker. Whitman: So much the better - you are more likely to say something.

If America is to produce great painters and if young artists wish to assume a place in the history of the art of their country, their first desire should be to…

I never knew of but one artist, and that's Tom Eakins, who could resist the temptation to see what they think ought to be rather than what is.

Strain your brain more than your eye... You can copy a thing to a certain limit. Then you must use intellect.