I learned early about the misery and dangers of life, and about the afterlife, about the external punishment which awaited the children of sin in Hell.

Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye... it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.

From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity.

No longer shall I paint interiors with men reading and women knitting. I will paint living people who breathe and feel and suffer and love.

What is art? Art grows from joy and sorrow, but mostly from sorrow. It grows from human lives.

I don’t believe in an art that is not born out of man’s need to open his heart.

All art, literature, and music must be born in your heart's blood. Art is your heart's blood.

There is a battle that goes on between men and women. Many people call it love.

The viewers must come to understand the sacredness of painting, so they will remove their hats as if they were in church.

Oil-painting is a developed technique. Why go backwards?

I do not believe in the art which is not the compulsive result of man's urge to open his heart

Of course it's better to be good. I know it ism but it's sometimes so hard to believe a thing even when you know it.

Ah! Wretched and too solitary he who loves not his own company.

Being able to meet fans who look up to me and letting me know they have been inspired by me in some way is so humbling.

Every word has its fragrance: there is a harmony and a disharmony of fragrances, and hence of words.

My advice if you insist on slimming: Eat as much as you like - just don't swallow it.

If you have an argument with someone and you sulk, sometimes you don't want to speak to them. But it is important to keep your friends close to you and do the right things.

I think I want the best for my country. I can make work that makes us examine some truths about ourselves - that would be more of a contribution. That's how I see it.

North American cats eat more fish than all the world's seals put together, yet we lay the blame on the seals for the declining fish stocks.

My job now, as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, is to take this process forward, and that I'm determined to do, whatever old clippings you dig out and whatever old quotes you put before me.

We were on our way to the twentieth floor, sharing the elevator with two suits that had men inside them.