From the biography of Freud, by Irving Stone, said by Freud's fiance after he teased her for being sweet, "Beware of truly sweet people. They have will of iron.

There is no thrill of mortal danger to surpass that of a lone man trying to create something that never existed before.

He made his colours, built his stretchers, plastered his canvas, painted his pictures, carpentered his frames, and painted them. 'Too bad I can't buy my own pictures,' he murmured aloud. 'Then I'd be completely self-sufficient.'

To try to understand another human being, to grapple for his ultimate depths, that is the most dangerous of human endeavors.

I knew that I had to find out more about van Gogh. Even though I was far too young, and felt I did not have sufficient technique to write a book about Vincent van Gogh, I knew I had to try. If I didn't I would never write anything else.

I do not know a better cure for mental illness than a book.

Nature always resists the artist at the beginning.