My sister and my brother, of whom I have not spoken before, were considerably older than I; it seemed almost as if we belonged to different generations.

Holy Istanbul! Your name is the most enchanting one of all names which enchants me.

The moon of a bright silver, which dazzles by its shining, illumines a world which surely is no longer ours; for it resembles in nothing what may be seen in other lands.

Egypt, the Egypt of antiquity, at a later time, exercised a mysterious fascination over me. I recognized a picture of it immediately, without hesitation and astonishment, in an illustrated magazine.

My books were always full of ink blots, always stained and covered with smeared sketches and pictures, which one draws idly when his attention wanders from his task.

My emotions lose their force when I endeavor to interpret them, and my words seem very inept.

Often, before returning home, I would take a long and roundabout way and pass by the peaceful ramparts from where I had glimpses of other provinces, and a sight of the distant country.

I do not exactly remember at what period I started my museum which absorbed so much of my time.

I am surprised that I cannot recall whether my desire to become a minister transformed itself into a wish to lead the more militant life of missionary, by a slow process or suddenly.

Through the study of fossils I had already been initiated into the mysteries of prehistoric creations.

It is with the approach of winter that cats...wear their richest fur and assume an air of sumptuous and delightful opulence.

I feel the symbolic world is the nub of a problem for an artist

What we have to do now is to make the public at large aware that what we're looking at is not a historical event but - and I have to be brutal and I am going to say it - a racket.

To only a fraction of the human race does God give the privilege of earning one's bread doing what one would have gladly pursued free, for passion.

Greed is merely a species of nearsightedness.

We are all alone, trapped in these bodies and our own minds, and whatever company we have in this life is only fleeting and superficial.

Go do the right thing.

Let not your mind run on what you lack as much as on what you have already.

The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible.

I like lots of color and mix-and-match.

It's better to not set your expectations high. And that's what happens when you have a long career - not every album is going to be record setting.