Don't help the young too much — it will just weaken them and they'll resent it, and finally start avoiding you.

Sitting on the floor of a room in Japan, looking out on a small garden with flowers blooming and dragonflies hovering in space, I suddenly felt as if I had been too long above my boots.

On pavements and the bark of trees I have found whole worlds.

I believe that painting should come through the avenues of meditation rather than the canals of action.

The search for an equilibrium is essential for the artist, to be as aware of inner space as he is of outer space.

I am accused often of too much experimentation.., but what else should I do when all other factors of man are in the same condition. I thrust forward into space as science and the rest do.

An artist must find his expression closely linked to his individual experience or else follow in the old grooves resulting in lifeless forms.

We all feel a separateness; we wish that a drop of water would soften our ego; the world needs a common conscience: agreement... we must concentrate outside ourselves.

At a time when experimentation expresses itself in all forms of life, search becomes the only valid expression of the spirit.

According to one critic, my works looked like scraped billboards. I went to look at the billboards and decided that more billboards should be scraped.

We look at the mountain to see the painting, then we look at the painting to see the mountain.

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.

Any self-defense class worth its salt will tell you thatyou don’t pull out a weapon unless you intend to use it.The same should apply to ballsy remarks.

I went back to my conversation with Siegfried that morning

When you're hounded by the shame of the past, you can turn into a pretty miserable person who is always trying to measure up and please others.

Questions are infinitely superior to answers.

Trees love to toss and sway they make such happy noises.

I think we have to focus,on exactly what the priorities are.

To mark all that I say in conversation, merely to beget in others, a good opinion of myself, and examine it.

Anything called a "program" is unconstitutional.

I like making things. I have a wood shop at home. I am a terrible carpenter but I love doing it.