It seems strange that some artists fear a blank canvas, when it has been a major contributory factor to great paintings.

Never ask for approval in your work. Life is your own, inspiration is your own, you create alone, and the results are your own - and that's good enough.

An ego should be like a warm breeze, never seen, just mildly sensed.

Everything in life belongs to God. Our purpose has already been mapped out.

If you are happy, you are a geezer.

If you have used colour throughout most of your artistic life, try just black and white... it will take your painting to another dimension where tone and form in all its permutations reign supreme.

History reveals that left-brain people have been creating art for a long time now.

The mark of genius is consistency. Do we hear of naive genius piano players? If anyone knows of one, try listening to it for an hour.

The process of painting offers an infinite array of possibilities. The closer in unification to just one of those, the better the painting becomes.

I just wanted to see my people smile. Brazillian people suffer so much. I just wanted them to smile

Sometimes it is best to burn paintings that just don't burn.

(Quoted by Thomas Carlyle) The rude man requires only to see something going on. The man of more refinement must be made to feel. The man of complete refinement must be made to reflect.

She took his hand, and he smiled down at her. "No mating yet?" "It depends on how...persuasive you could be." "Hot damn, woman. I can be persuasive.

Right path will not always look like a right path

A lot of fun stuff happens when you go out on a bike compared to when you're in a car. You're more in the environment. It's enjoyable. Even when It's raining It's still fun.

We stood back-to-back, blocking and striking in harmony; sometimes it felt like his arms and legs were an extension of me. I could count on him to keep them off me from behind.

The life of faith isn't meant for tourists. It's meant for pilgrims.

Most people in the world of comedy at least are multi-hyphenates, so people who direct are also writers.

Progressive improvement beats delayed perfection.

George Bush is not stupid. He's evil. OK? There's a huge difference between stupid and evil.

I did not know at first that it would be a series; I discovered after the first novel that I had more to say about it, so I did another. And another, and then the readers demanded yet more.