“Some poor fool has been saying in his heart
Glory is out of date in life and art.”

“The one thing to say about art and life is that art is art and life is life, that art is not life and life is not art. A 'slice-of-life' art is no better or worse than a 'slice-of-art' life. Fine art is not a 'means of making a living' or a 'way of living a life', and a artist who dedicates his life to his art or his art to his life burdens his art with his life and his life with his art. Art that is a matter of life and death is neither fine nor free.”

“For me personally, the greatest art to date has been created in New York and the most uptight and conventional art in Berlin. Obviously, I am an exception to this rule!”

“.. poor art for poor people [his critic on social realism art in America]”

“1953. Learn the art of Silence; the wise Man that holds his Tongue, says more than the Fool who speaks.”

“A man and his art are like a fool and his king. ”

“Being summoned by the Athenians out of Sicily to plead for his life, Alcibiades absconded, saying that that criminal was a fool who studied a defence when he might fly for it.”

“The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.”

“How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.”

“I know some people say I can be funny. But there is always a deeper meaning to what I say. I am a socialist at heart and have the interests of the poor in mind. When people see how I manage to work my way out of tough situations, it gives them hope in their own life”