One of the interlocutors begged to be informed whether he thought that a master ought to aim at working slowly or quickly.

"I will tell you plainly what I feel about this matter.

It is both good and useful to be able to work with promptitude and address.
We must regard it as a special gift from God to be able to do that in a few hours which other men can only perform in many days of labour.
Consequently, artists who paint rapidly, without falling in quality below those who paint but slowly, deserve the highest commendation.
Should this rapidity of execution, however, cause a man to transgress the limits of sound art, it would have been better to have proceeded with more tardiness and study.

A good artist ought never to allow the impetuosity of his nature to overcome his sense of the main end of art, perfection.

Therefore we cannot call slowness of execution a defect, nor yet the expenditure of much time and trouble, if this be employed with the view of attaining greater perfection.