Even talent is rarely distinguishable, over the long run, from perseverance and lots of hard work.

Talent may get someone off the starting blocks faster, but without a sense of direction or a goal to strive for, it won't count for much

Art is like beginning a sentence before you know its ending.

The seed of your next artwork lies embedded in the imperfections of your current piece.

To the artist, all problems of art appear uniquely personal. Well, that's understandable enough, given that not many other activities routinely call one's basic self-worth into question.

Uncertainty is the essential, inevitable and all-pervasive companion to your desire to make art

Something about making art has to do with overcoming things, giving us a clear opportunity for doing things in ways we have always known we should do them.

Lesson for the day: vision is always ahead of execution - and it should be.

Tolerance for uncertainty is the prerequisite to succeeding.

The hardest part of art-making is living your life in such a way that your work gets done-over and over-and that means, among other things, finding a host of practices that are just plain useful.

We have to construct communities of artists because they don't naturally exist in our culture.

Live on berries in a hollowed-out comet lit by artificial suns long enough, and you start to have delusions about achieving enlightenment.

Perfectionism, of course, was something which even as a young man he had come to see as the innermost essence of talent.

Don't try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough.

The true Christian's nostril is to be continually attentive to the inner cesspool.

If you turn down work because you are frightened of getting typecast, you'll never do anything good.

There is only one reason an intelligent person doesn't believe in miracles. He or she believes in materialism.

Being here all day, I was quite exhausted - I had to drink coffee before the match to stay awake

In writing, as in life, always be true to your character.

Someone praising a man for his foolhardy bravery, Cato, the elder, said, ''There is a wide difference between true courage and a mere contempt of life.

Life is...the moments that take your breath away.