I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty.

I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality, I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say in paint.

I'd been taught to paint like other people, and I thought, what's the use? I couldn't do any better than they, or even as well. I was just adding to the brushpile. So I quit.

One can not be an American by going about saying that one is an American. It is necessary to feel America, like America, love America and then work.

I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught.

One can't paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt.

I've been afraid every single day of my life, but I've gone ahead and done it anyway.