“I cross out words so you will see them more; the fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them.”

Fire will attract more attention than any other cry for help.

I start a picture and I finish it. I don’t think about art while I work.

I don’t think about art when I’m working. I think about life.

I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young.

My favorite Twombly is ‘Apollo and the Artist,’ with the big ‘Apollo’ written across it.

I had a romantic feeling about how these people became famous.

The black person is the protagonist in most of my paintings.

I cross out words so you will see them more

The more I paint the more I like everything.

I wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot.

Since I was seventeen I thought I might be a star. I’d think about all my heroes, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix…

Every single line means something.

I was a really lousy artist as a kid. Too abstract expressionist; or I’d draw a big ram’s head, really messy.

I like kids’ work more than work by real artists any day.

I have a painting where somebody’s holding a chicken, and underneath the chicken is somebody’s head.

I don’t listen to what art critics say. I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.

Elizabeth’s back at the Red Cross, and I’m walking the dog.

I set out to be a cross between Lenny Bruce and Robert the Bruce – my main thrust was the body and its functions and malfunctions – the absurdity of the thing.

We can’t cross that bridge until we come to it, but I always like to lay down a pontoon ahead of time.

Male genitals are still called “the tree of life” by the Arabs, and a cross was one of the oldest diagrammatic images of male genitals.

If we die without making peace with God through His precious blood which was shed for us on the cross surely we shall end up in hellfire.

Only on the cross do you have a totally holy God and a totally loving God.

I cross out words so you will see them more

God grades on the Cross not on the curve.