[T]he diamond and other precious stones are focuses of light, and essences of colour which seem expressly created to ornament on a small scale the human body with all the splendours which adorn the universe on a large scale. – Charles Blanc, Art in Ornament and Dress, 1875

How much art and science, and what attention, what care is necessary to render the sun-beams which are imprisoned in a tiny polyhedron of pure carbon, brilliant and sparkling! – Charles Blanc, Art in Ornament and Dress, 1875, translated from French

[T]he hyacinth is like the tints of dawn passing from saffron to orange. – Charles Blanc, Art in Ornament and Dress, 1875, translated from French