“But I’m the only one who can paint the moon, because I’m the only one who knows whether that’s right or not.”

I feel like everyone who goes to The University of Texas is blessed and lucky to be there because they’re getting a chance to be as good as they can be.

Eventually there are going to be cities in space.

History has spurts and then is steady, and then maybe even backing up a step, and then forward again.

It’s hard not to be excited when you’re going to find a way to land on the moon.

It seems farther away now because there are no rockets getting there. Nobody is going.

Frequently on the lunar surface I said to myself, ‘This is the Moon, that is the Earth. I’m really here, I’m really here!’

The moon is very rugged.

Test pilots have a litmus test for evaluating problems. When something goes wrong, they ask, “Is this thing still flying?

I feel like there’s too many paintings left unpainted that I just don’t want to take the time away.

I found I have to stay painting.

I have the nicest life in the world.

But I found that being an artist and doing accurate work is very difficult.

If the answer is yes, then there’s no immediate danger, no need to overreact.

We knew it was going to be difficult to get to the moon. We didn’t know how difficult.

As the centuries unfold, millions of artists will live on the moon and paint the moon and Mars as we go out into the universe.

I think everything depends on money.

How do you know love is gone? If you said that you would be there at seven and you get there by nine, and he or she has not called the police yet – it’s gone.

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.

You know that old saying, ‘A way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’ – that’s me.

To hear of a thousand deaths in war is terrible, and we ‘know’ that it is. But as it registers on our hearts, it is not more terrible than one death fully imagined.

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do.

Don’t you just love these long rainy afternoons in New Orleans when an hour isn’t just an hour — but a little bit of eternity dropped in your hands — and who knows what to do with it?

I never know what I think about something until I read what I’ve written on it.

I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices today than any of you to secure peace.