“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do.”

Of the opposite sex, I have the moustache and, in general, the face.

Painting completed my life. I lost three children and a series of other things that would have fulfilled my horrible life. My painting took the place of all of this. I think work is the best.

I love you more than my own skin.

Painting completed my life.

To paint is the most terrific thing that there is, but to do it well is very difficult.

Take a lover who looks at you like maybe you are magic.

I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.

Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?

I want to be inside your darkest everything.

My toys were those of a boy: skates, bicycles.

Mankind owns its destiny, and its destiny is the earth. We are destroying it until we have no destiny.

I do not know whether my paintings are surrealist or not, but I do know that they are the frankest expression of myself.

I paint flowers so they will not die.

I find that Americans completely lack sensibility and good taste. They are boring, and they all have faces like unbaked rolls.

I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to better.

I am in agreement with everything my father taught me and nothing my mother taught me.

People often ask me why don’t you have a girlfriend. Then I smile and say: I have thousands some just haven’t met me yet.

Surround yourself with positive people that will uplift you bring out the best in you.⁠

Look at people like an unfinished work of art. Allow them to change, allow them to grow.

Poor people, people of color – especially are much more likely to be found in prison than in institutions of higher education.

You have to accept that most people are mad at their perception of you, which is distorted by layers of unhealthy and unaffected emotional wounds.

In other people’s company I felt I was dull, gloomy, unwelcome, at once bored and boring.

I’ll do things that maybe other people would be afraid to do or afraid to say. But in my personal life, I’m actually very responsible with my personal relationships.

Everyone longs to be loved. And the greatest thing we can do is to let people know that they are loved and capable of loving.