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

I start a picture and I finish it.

I had some money, I made the best paintings ever.

If I’m away from painting for a week, I get bored.

I try to think about life.

I’d never win painting contests. I remember losing to a guy who did a perfect Spiderman.

I wanted to build up a name for myself.

I was completely reclusive, worked a lot, took a lot of drugs. I was awful to people.

Believe it or not, I can actually draw.

There are about 30 words around you all the time, like ‘thread’ or ‘exit.’

The country makes me more paranoid, you know? I think the crazy people out there are little crazier.

I am not a black artist, I am an artist.

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

If you wanna talk about influence, man, then you’ve got to realize that influence is not influence. It’s simply someone’s idea going through my new mind.

Most Young Kings Get Their Heads Cut Off.

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.

Everybody starts by imitating their heroes. For me it was Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters.

Virtue has her heroes too As well as Fame and Fortune.

They found our hero in the gutter with a diamond ring and a gun.

I can’t explain it, but from the first day I stepped into a wrestling ring, I knew that one day I was going to be a big superstar. I knew that one day I would be the NWA World Heavyweight Champion like my hero, Lou Thesz.

Eugene V. Debs has always been one of my heroes.

I think it’s really easy to be the altruistic hero of your own narrative and story.

Heroes have a rough time because they stand up when they ought not to, they speak when they ought not to; they always have to go that extra mile.

A hero is someone right who doesn’t change.