Practice by drawing things large, as if equal in representation and reality. In small drawings every large weakness is easily hidden; in the large, the smallest weakness is easily seen.

Beauty is the adjustment of all parts proportionately so that one cannot add or subtract or change without impairing the harmony of the whole.

I certainly consider a great appreciation of painting to be the best indication of a most perfect mind.

A common error of ignorance is to maintain that what one does not know does not exist.

No art, however minor, demands less than total dedication if you want to excel in it.

A man can do all things if he will.

We must always take from nature what we paint and always choose the most beautiful things.

It is very rarely granted even to Nature herself to produce anything absolutely perfect in every part.

There is no art which has not had its beginnings in things full of errors. Nothing is at the same time both new and perfect.

When I investigate and when I discover that the forces of the heavens and the planets are within ourselves, then truly I seem to be living among the gods.

The city is like a great house, and the house in its turn a small city.

Stupidity is brief and guileless, while wit equivocates and hides. Wit is a scoundrel, while stupidity is honest and sincere.

Self-pity is a sin. It is a form of living suicide.

War is tragedy. The great war stories are tragedies. It's the failure of diplomacy. 'War and Peace,' 'A Farewell to Arms,' 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Those are some of the greatest tragedies.

I've been extraordinarily fortunate that I've been able to go live a very active, stressful life. And I don't believe that my heart disease changed me for the worst.

Instead of fighting the darkness, you bring in the light.

Meditation means to know life beyond the sphere of the physical; to know and experience life not just at the surface but at the source.

When I came back to California in the early '60s I was hanging out with Jimmy Bowen, Phil Spector, and I wanted to be a record producer and work with other artists.

Congress can't take the year off, election or no election.

The choice in politics isn't usually between black and white. It's between two horrible shades of gray.

Love tends to end in a very painful goodbye.