"Perfection No Trifle."

A friend once called upon Michael Angelo while he was finishing a statue: some time afterward he called again; the sculptor was still at the same work: his friend, looking at the figure, exclaimed, "You have been idle since I saw you last!"--"By no means," replied the sculptor. "I have retouched this part, and polished that; I have softened this feature, and brought out this muscle; I have given more expression to this lip, and more energy to this limb."--"Well, well," said his friend; "but all these are trifles."--"It may be so," replied Angelo; "but recollect, that trifles make perfection, and that perfection is no trifle."