The process is only a means to an end-creating the painting I want. It doesn't mean anything itself. It's only a way of creating a result.

Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.

The secret of success is… to be fully awake to everything about you.

If people would just look at the paintings, I don't think they would have any trouble enjoying them. It's like looking at a bed of flowers, you don't tear your hair out over what it means.

Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end. He didn't mean it as a compliment, but it was.

Art is coming face to face with yourself.

There is no accident, just as there is no beginning and no end.

Painting is no problem. The problem is what to do when you're not painting.

It doesn't matter how the paint is put on, as long as something is said.

The modern artist is working with space and time, and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating.

Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you.

Choose your friends with caution, plan your future with purpose, and frame your life with faith.If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.

I can't bear art that you can walk round and admire. A book should be either a bandit or a rebel or a man in the crowd.

I do not read the ancient languages, but I am beginning to study Greek.

When I only begin to read, I forget I'm on this world. It lifts me on wings with high thoughts.

The American people as a whole are really pretty moderate. They're not, as a whole, conservative or liberal. The right wing is marching the Republican Party off a cliff.

Too many people confuse being serious with being solemn.

If you write a bunch of different characters with a bunch of different opinions, you end up with these long scenes of everyone standing around talking.

Chess is a test of wills.

Because of 'The Birds' and 'Marnie' I was, as the expression goes, hot in Hollywood and producers and directors wanted to hire me.

I've always said that I myself am not the best audience for my own work, because I'm just not that receptive to comedy.