“I'm very happy to hear that my work inspires writers and painters. It's the most beautiful compliment, the greatest reward. Art should always be an exchange.”

“Originality is the art of concealing your source.”

“The first mistake of art is to assume that it's serious.”

“Almost all institutions own a lot more art than they can ever show, much of it revealing for its timeliness, genius, or sheer weirdness.”

“Being an artist is dragging your innermost feelings out, giving a piece of yourself, no matter in which art form, in which medium.”

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

“Art is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature, placed alongside thereof for its conquest.”

“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.”

“What I've discovered is that in art, as in music, there's a lot of truth-and then there's a lie. The artist is essentially creating his work to make this lie a truth, but he slides it in amongst all the others. The tiny little lie is the moment I live for, my moment. It's the moment that the audience falls in love.”