Every morning when I wake up, I experience an exquisite joy —the joy of being Salvador Dalí— and I ask myself in rapture: What wonderful things is this Salvador Dalí going to accomplish today?

Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.

The thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents.

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.

Beauty should be edible, or not at all.

An elegant woman is a woman who despises you and has no hair under her arms.

What is important is to spread confusion, not eliminate it.

Everyone should eat hashish, but only once.

People love mystery, and that is why they love my paintings.

This grandiose tragedy that we call modern art.

Sorry, kid. Whedon got it wrong. Stakes don't kill vampires, they just give us heartburn.

Criticism is a surreal state, like a good drug gone bad. When it's bad you wish it would stop, and when it's good, you can't get enough.

I really believe that in the larger sense, not only today but at all times, you only find yourself when you disobey. Disobedience is the beginning of responsibility, I think.

It was difficult being a conscientious objector in the 1940's, but I felt I had to stick to my guns.

Commend a fool for his wit, or a rogue for his honesty and he will receive you into his favour.

Life is one passage and then you keep moving into another state.

Perhaps one of the most essential exercises in learning to paint is the copying of master works in the museums.

The dangerous glorification of the nation state, and the baiting of minorities that goes along with it, releases an anti-democratic energy.

The man the state has put in place must have obedient hearing to his least command when it is right, and even when it's not.

I decided I needed to give up something, so I gave up teaching.