A really good picture looks as if it's happened at once. It's an immediate image.

There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about.

Art has a will of its own. It has nothing to do with the taste of the moment or what's expected of you. That's a formula for dead art, or fashionable art.

You have to know how to use the accident, how to recognise it, how to control it, and ways to eliminate it so that the whole surface looks felt and born all at once.

I'd rather risk an ugly surprise than rely on things I know I can do.

In relations with people, as in art, if you always stick to style, manners, and what will work, and you're never caught off guard, then some beautiful experiences never happen.

There are no rules. Let the picture lead you where it must go.

Every canvas is a journey all its own.

I follow the rules until I go against them all.

I had the landscape in my arms as I painted it. I had the landscape in my mind and shoulder and wrist.

What concerns me when I work, is not whether the picture is a landscape, or whether it's pastoral, or whether somebody will see a sunset in it. What concerns me is - did I make a beautiful picture?

You don’t know what your account balance of personal courage is until that situation presents itself where that check needs to be written and cashed

I reject the notion that we must tell girls that the only way to be valid human beings is to turn themselves into boys.

I think that the question of how power can be exerted from the lower reaches has never been more important. It will ultimately determine whether another world is indeed possible.

Alas, why will a man spend months trying to hand over his liberty to a woman--and the rest of his life trying to get it back again?

Sharon is capable of making peace.

The historical novel gives us perspective on our modern lives and helps us connect with the story, which we are continuing ourselves.

All my life I been waitin' for I been prayin' for, for the people to say that we don't want to fight no more. They'll be no more wars and our children will play, one day.

For a hungry man, green peas are more shiny than gleaming pearls.

You practice and you get better. It's very simple.

I really admire stand-up, and I think I would have loved to learn how to do it. I think it's terrifying and thrilling. A really cool thing to do. It's a dying art, in a way.