The first inspiration I ever had was the cosmos, the planetary system.

The trouble with a lot of artists today is that they have too much technique and equipment. They don't know what to do with it all. If you cut down on it, you can work more strongly within narrower limits.

Why must art be static? You look at an abstraction, sculptured or painted, an entirely exciting arrangement of planes, spheres, nuclei, entirely without meaning. It would be perfect but it is always still. The next step in sculpture is motion.

That others grasp what I have in mind seems unessential, at least as long as they have something else in theirs.

A mobile is an abstract sculpture made chiefly out of sheet metal, steel rods, wire and wood. Some or all of these elements move, propelled by electric motors, wind, water or by hand.

My fingers always seem busier than my mind.

To most people who look at a mobile, it's no more than a series of flat objects that move. To a few, though, it may be poetry.