I benefit from contemplation, but it's a great antidote to that, having someone interesting come into the studio environment to be painted, so that I can experience a little bit of their world.

Art thrives on society and society thrives on its art.

I love isolation. It's very important for me to have time and space to myself when I can sit and read or write as well as paint. It's all part of the process.

Some sitters don't engage with the process of having their portrait painted at all. They'll think it's a good opportunity to catch up with all their phone calls.

It's important to start off with ideals, even if they become modified at some later stage.

It is intensely frustrating to be misquoted.

I'm not some kind of machine that paints pictures.

One of my principal concerns is the contradiction between appearance and reality - illusion and reality. I try to set up an expectation of sorts and then contradict it.

One of the big failings of art schools is that students aren't given any teaching on how to survive as a one-person business, which is what it is.

A contemporary painting is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it and not a predetermined figure.

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.

We may not know whether our understanding is correct, or whether our sentiments are noble, but the air of the day surrounds us like spring which spreads over the land without our aid or notice.

Pro-crasinaton kills the dream. Let it go

Failure is only postponed success as long as courage 'coaches' ambition. The habit of persistence is the habit of victory.

I am as poor as Job my lord but not so patient.

If we're trying to protect the American public, we should not put in place a travel ban.

I actually love history. I've devoured book after book of stories from World War I and World War II. They're really two sections of world history that really interest me.

Local economies are suffering as people spend more on fuel and less on consumer goods and travel.

No! on Human Rights and Freedom, on a subject that is as self-evident as that two and two make four, there is no need of any written authority.

More like the movie where the guy meets a smart girl who wears a lot of sweaters and drinks cocoa. They talk about books and issues and kiss in the rain.