I'm not going to be caught around here for any fool celebration. To hell with birthdays!

How will I be remembered? As a technician or artist? As a humorist or a visionary?

If there was sadness in this creative world of mine, it was a pleasant sadness. If there were problems, they were humorous problems.

Eisenhower had about the most expressive face I ever painted, I guess. Just like an actor's. Very mobile. When he talked, he used all the facial muscles. And he had a great, wide mouth that I liked. When he smiled, it was just like the sun came out.

Some folks think I painted Lincoln from life, but I haven't been around that long. Not quite.

I used to sit in the studio with a copy of the (Saturday Evening) Post laid across my knees ... And then I'd conjure up a picture of myself as a famous illustrator and gloat over it, putting myself in various happy situations, surrounded by admiring females, deferred to by office flunkies at the magazines, wined and dined by the editor.

The '20s ended in an era of extravagance, sort of like the one we're in now. There was a big crash, but then the country picked itself up again, and we had some great years. Those were the days when American believed in itself. I was happy and proud to be painting it.