“I think everyone sees beauty. Art is a way to respond”

Give up doing the things that you do not like to do.

It is commonly thought that everything that is can be put into words.

Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.

That which takes us by surprise-moments of happiness-that is inspiration.

You must find the things that you do like. The things that are acceptable to your mind.

Pollock was terrific. I think he freed himself of all kinds of worry about this world. Ran around and dripped, and then he managed to express ecstasy.

The manipulation of materials in an artwork is a result of this state of mind.

The adventurous state of mind is a high house… The joy of adventure is unaccountable.

This is the attractiveness of artwork. It is adventurous, strenuous and joyful.

I hope I have made it clear that the work is about perfection as we are aware of it in our minds but that the paintings are very far from being perfect – completely removed in fact – even as we ourselves are.

The Minimalists are idealist. They want to minimise themselves in favour of the ideal. But I just can’t. You see, my paintings are not cool.

What we really want to do is serve happiness. We want everyone to be happy, never unhappy even for a moment. We want the animals to be happy.

What I say is that we’re capable of a transcendent response, and I think it makes us happy. And I do think beauty produces a transcendent response.

Any material may be used but the theme is the same and the response is the same for all artwork.

Once he sees this fact his feet are on the path. If you want to know the truth you will know it.

Happiness is being on the beam with life – to feel the pull of life

It is this refrain that we hear repeated by everyone: you are not at home, this is not a sanatorium, the only exit is by way of the Chimney. (What did it mean? Soon we were all to learn what it meant.)

Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved for the sake of something greater.

I treat people based on who they really are, not the name. Everyone has to be respectful and be a human being. No one’s above… That’s how I carry it with anybody.

I get along with everyone except for men my age, who are bourgeois or retired or boring.

Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few who pause to consider the antithesis: that perfect unhappiness is equally unattainable.

Everyone takes a bad selfie – the first thing is to know that.

We’re all Africans, everyone – black, white, yellow.

To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.