Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.

As one gets older one sees many more paths that could be taken. Artists sense within their own work that kind of swelling of possibilities, which may seem a freedom or a confusion.

Bend color names which should be made of neon or copper tubing. Place an object on a surface - trace the object - then bend the object - leaving some part of it attached.

To be an artist you have to give up everything, including the desire to be a good artist.

One night I dreamed that I painted a large American flag, and the next morning I got up and I went out and bought the materials to begin it.

When something is new to us, we treat it as an experience. We feel that our senses are awake and clear. We are alive.

I assumed that everything would lead to complete failure, but I decided that didn't matter – that would be my life.

One works without thinking how to work.

It's simple, you just take something and do something to it, and then do something else to it. Keep doing this, and pretty soon you've got something.

Art is either a complaint or appeasement.

I have no ideas about what the paintings imply about the world. I don't think that's a painter's business. He just paints paintings without a conscious reason.

The problem is, we always want to pay the prices we can afford.

To deal with history [life] means to abandon one's self to chaos but to retain a belief in the ordination and the meaning. It is a very serious task.

He was asking for memories, too young himself to know that memories were only memories of memories.

Cleanse the fountain if you would purify the streams.

There is no peace to be taken With poets who are young, For they worry about the wars to be fought and the songs that must be sung.

I wanted to be a concert pianist at Carnegie Hall; that is what I wanted to do from really early on. I actually was the accompanist for a couple of the musicals I was in growing up.

Yeah, well, it's been a super fun week. And by 'super fun' I mean 'horrible and endless'.

Loosen up, and everybody around you will loosen up.

Professor Eric Zolt of UCLA, said to me, "The VAT is such a good idea, mark my words, within five years, the U.S. will have a VAT." Then he said, "Of course, I've been saying that for 20 years."

Night with her train of stars And her great gift of sleep.