"My country has the most prominent place in my thoughts. How shall I raise her name?" ~ Samuel F. B. Morse (Chapter 3, page 61)

"The great virtue of Morse's project was that so many acknowledged masterworks could be seen all together." (Chapter 3, page 65)

"The fear of losing their butterfly distinctions and their tinsel gives great uneasiness to many of these simpletons." (Chapter 3, page 72)

"Adams openly enjoyed sitting for his portrait, and this, Healy said, was not always the way with celebrated people. Webster, as he told Adams, likened artists to horseflies on a hot day. 'Brush them off on one side, they settle on another,' Webster exclaimed." (Chapter 5, page 147)

"In the twists and curves of the old Paris one was relieved from the pain of seeing how far one had to go from one spot to another; each tortuous street had a separate idiosyncrasy; what picturesque diversities, what interesting...