When you come to see a picture of mine, I want you to know that I’m not going to do anything that will make you uncomfortable. I want you to know that you won’t be disappointed in me.

Pictures must not be too picturesque.

My life is my argument.

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

I can express myself.

With all due respect, the Mona Lisa is overrated.

Never marry someone in hope that they’ll change later.

One of the things I love most about being at home is that I’m comfortable there. And since we are the home of Christ, we need to make sure He’s comfortable in us.

I’ve been writing poems since I was in the Navy – to Rosalynn. I found I could say things in poems that I never could in prose. Deeper, more personal things. I could write a poem about my mother that I could never tell my mother. Or feelings about being on a submarine that I would have been too embarrassed to share with fellow submariners.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the ambition of the great painters was to make paintings that were like music, which was then considered as the noblest art.

Instead of stubbornly attempting to use surrealism for purposes of subversion, it is necessary to try to make of surrealism something as solid, complete and classic as the works of museums.

I am Warhol. I am the No. 1 most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh.

I’ve lost both parents in the last two years, so you pick up on that stuff. That’s the most terrible thing about being an author – standing there at your mother’s funeral, but you don’t switch the author off. So your own innermost thoughts are grist for the mill.

The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.

I think style is being so comfortable and confident in what you’re wearing. That’s what style is, ‚cause everybody’s got different style.

I think women want to take care of themselves, and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important.

I’d always tried to resist playing the supervirility thing. I liked showing the vulnerability of age.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

A lot of people have said I’d have probably done better in my career if I hadn’t looked so cheap and gaudy. But I dress to be comfortable for me, and you shouldn’t be blamed because you want to look pretty.

I don’t see myself in terms of artifice. I see myself as a real person who chooses to live my life in an open way – artistically.

I trust my taste. I trust it completely and I always have done, and I’ve always thought it isn’t that different from everybody else’s.

I always knew that St. Jude was an amazing organization but meeting the kids and seeing how the hospital works first hand was truly beautiful. It doesn’t feel like a regular hospital all dreary and sad. It’s a colorful, beautiful, comfortable, fun place to live and the energy is wonderful.

I’ve had everything pierced at some point.

If I make music and people hate it, you know, whatever. I’ll die someday, and one day, they will too.

Too often the strong, silent man is silent only because he does not know what to say, and is reputed strong only because he has remained silent.

You don’t have to be a renowned artist like Q-Tip to try your hand at poetry. You don’t need any special equipment – that’s the beauty of it.

Writing a song is so personal. You have to have trust in someone you’re working with; otherwise, you’re not gonna come out with something that’s really you.

The best thing is to always keep honest people around, because when you have a bunch of yes men around that know that you’re making a mistake but let you go on with it, that’s when it ruins your mind state as an artist.

Acting helped me as I was growing up. It helped me learn about myself, helped me travel, helped me understand life, express myself, all those wonderful things. So I’m very, very grateful; it’s a fun job. It’s a luxury.

Any good piece of material like Shakespeare ought to be open to reinterpretation.

People look to time in expectation that it will eventually make them happy, but you cannot find true happiness by looking toward the future.

I find only freedom in the realms of eccentricity.

Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.

I don’t want followers.

The artist in me cries out for design.

The question isn’t, ‚What do we want to know about people?‘, It’s, ‚What do people want to tell about themselves?‘

All art is but imitation of nature.

All in all, I just don’t trust journalists – and I don’t think it’s a good practice for me to trust journalists.

I trust Russia and China and Iran and North Korea like I trust a Jussie Smollett police report.

What’s the greater risk? Letting go of what people think – or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?

For my career, I wouldn’t go racing if I didn’t enjoy it. I still need to have my say, and not just get put with a team and get told to deal with it.

To restore the trust of the people, we must reform the way the government operates.

It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life.

I had to prove you could be a new kind of black man. I had to show the world.

One word from the Lord is like a piece of gold to a believer, who is like a jeweler, shaping and hammering out the promise for a number of weeks.

Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame.

Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. This is not a function of any other art.

I’m not a photographer, so I didn’t get into F-stops or ND filters or background, foreground, cross-light, all that stuff. But I was interested in the camera and the lenses. That’s the world that I’m moving in, in terms of acting and giving a performance.

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened by anyone’s perception of me.

People need good lies. There are too many bad ones.

All of my misfortunes come from having thought too well of my fellows.

Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you’re a human being, you feel, you suffer. You’re gay, you’re sick, you’re nervous or whatever.

The art of government is the organisation of idolatry.

There’s nothing more comfortable or leisurely than having a pair of Ugg slippers on in the house.

If people lose faith in their government, the result is the same whether or not the loss of confidence is justified.

Every man lives in two realms: the internal and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and instrumentalities by means of which we live.

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.

I’ll think I have a few wonderful friends and all of a sudden, ooh, here it comes. They do a lot of things. They talk about you to the press, to their friends, tell stories, and you know, it’s disappointing.

I believe the right question to ask, respecting all ornament, is simply this; was it done with enjoyment, was the carver happy while he was about it?

I’ve seen my friends take someone back after they’ve cheated because they fit perfectly.

Doing graphic novels is cool! It’s fun! You get to write something, and then see it visually page by page, panel by panel, working with the artist, you get to see it fleshed out.