When you look at a work of art, you don't see a cover for something else; you see revelation. If you're an artist, art is the truest expression of yourself. Even if you're painting a life you don't have.

If you love everything you do, you will probably end up with mediocre work. I think dissatisfaction with the state of things does propel creative people forward.

You have to be willing to recognize failure.

The pleasure that attaches to the artistic life comes in imagining what we might do as opposed to acknowledging what we have done.

Art never lies, I believe.

When you look at a work of art, you don't see a cover for something else; you see revelation. If you're an artist, art is the truest expression of yourself. Even if you're painting a life you don't have.

When you feel your book is the height of irrelevance you can return to the excitement of the daily news.