I think being interested is really what being civilized is about. I mean, you have to be conscious of everything.

It's possible I am the only art critic that a lot of people read. And maybe Robert Hughes, if he's still writing.

Love and fear, the two strongest emotions we have. It all starts with emotion.

I'm absolutely convinced that people cannot look and read at the same time. Not any more than you can kneel and jump at the same time. It's a completely different physiological setting.

Matisse can make you hate your life for its comparatively insipid joys.

Beauty is a physiological reaction. Beauty is not an object.

There's art that I would readily buy if I could afford it, and enjoy, but would never write about because it doesn't seem significant.