Artists and art institutions have to learn how to play hardball. A democratic society needs a democratic art and we have a right to demand it.

Museums are not normally presenting the works on the walls as provocations to work. It's more like going to a Jacuzzi.

An artist is not an isolated system. In order to survive he has to interact continuously with the world around him... Theoretically there are no limits to his involvement.

Art-making is just another part of the consciousness industry.

The artist's business requires an involvement in practically everything... The total scope of information he receives day after day is of concern.

When works of art are presented like rare butterflies on the walls, they're decontextualized. We admire their beauty, and I have nothing against that, per se. But there is more to art than that.

Art in the art world, and culture in general, are branches of the media, which produces our political and social thinking climate.

Whenever the medium of photography is useful for a particular task, I use it. If another medium is more suitable I use that.

A liberal public is interesting to have as an audience. It is for that very reason that corporations make such an effort to ally themselves with cultural institutions.

A standard line, promoted by people like Clement Greenberg,.. is that politics contaminates art, and Manet is often cited as an example of art for art's sake.

Trivializing the Holocaust is the last thing I want to do.

Hope strengthens desire and love strengthens confidence.

I like books that aren't just lovely but that have memories in themselves. Just like playing a song, picking up a book again that has memories can take you back to another place or another time.

Pro-crasinaton kills the dream. Let it go

We've had every official in Hawaii, Democrat and Republican, every news outlet that has investigated this, confirm that, yes, in fact, I was born in Hawaii, Aug. 4, 1961, in Kapiolani Hospital.

Myth is supposed to bring us together, but fantasy alienates us.

If I wanted pity, I got it because I'm illegitimate. And when I didn't want it I was mean and nasty.

The craving to become causes fears; to be, to achieve, and so to depend engenders fear.

I'm the type of person that likes to dream big, and I've often found that every great journey begins with a dream.

We all have that inner voice that is wise, even if we don't always follow it. It's that voice I'm trying to listen to.

In history people dressed much better than we do today.