I see no reason why I should tickle stones or waste time on polishing bronze.

Who is an artist? I say we take a title. No one gives it to us. We make our lives.

I was given the gifts of the artist, and the trouble that goes with them: So I have that blessing, and there was never a time thatI questioned it or doubted it.... For forty years, I wanted to jump out of windows.

Early in school, they called me 'the artist.' When teachers wanted things painted, they called upon me, they called upon 'the artist.' I am not saying that I learned my name, animals can learn their names, I am saying that they learned it.

When you are doing a piece you are with it. You don't want to wait until next week, when experience will have given you something else.

I only know this - that you can’t give advice to an artist.

When you put things together, things that other people have thrown out, you’re really bringing them to life – a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created.