One should never criticize his own work except in a fresh and hopeful mood. The self-criticism of a tired mind read more

One should never criticize his own work except in a fresh and hopeful mood. The self-criticism of a tired mind is suicide.

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it.

Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous you don't want it.

The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - read more

The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed - it is a process of elimination.

I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What could I say? I felt read more

I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What could I say? I felt like de Kooning, who was asked to comment on a certain abstract painting, and answered in the negative. He was then told it was the work of a celebrated monkey. 'That's different. For a monkey, it's terrific.' - "London Magazine", March, 1967.

A great artist is always before his time or behind it.

A great artist is always before his time or behind it.

All autobiography is self-indulgent.

All autobiography is self-indulgent.

Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

Mine was the role of the oilcan in making the machinery clunk around.

Mine was the role of the oilcan in making the machinery clunk around.

One thing that makes art different from life is that in art things have a shape... it allows us to read more

One thing that makes art different from life is that in art things have a shape... it allows us to fix our emotions on events at the moment they occur, it permits a union of heart and mind and tongue and tear.