The big shock of my life was Abstract Expressionism - Pollock, de Kooning, those guys. It changed my work. I was an academically trained student, and suddenly you could pour paint, smear it on, broom it on!

The businessman says 'If I don't do it first, somebody else will.' The artist says 'If I don't do it first, nobody else will.'

You can't take yourself too seriously.

The people who love my paintings, that respond to them the most, they're spectators, they're not viewers.

Eating is one of the great beauties in life. One of my favorite recreations... eating with friends, the service, the ambience.

I love the passion you go through while you're creating.

I always stayed in tune with my own ambitions and attitudes and I'm still my intractable old self, for better or worse.