“You see, for me [art]'s not one of life's ornaments, rococo relaxation to be greeted affably after a day of hard work; I'm inverted on this : for me it's my very breath, the one thing necessary, and all else is excretion and a latrine.”

“A decent human being is ashamed at being somebody's boss!”

“DIE KARTOFFELSORTIERMASCHINE rüttelte im Bogen=Lampen=Licht: Nichts Niemand Nirgends Nie! / Umdient von 4 Lemuren in fahler Tracht: die Schatten flohen manchmal entsetzt vor ihren eigenen Herren davon. (Zaunzu hülfesuchend? – Bei uns iss ooch keene.)”

“Jean Cocteau--my artist friend since our early days--let himself be guided throughout his full life by the principle:"I love to love.I hate hatred."With all my heart I agree with that, and I have never lost faith in the good. This is a source of strength for my work.Once Cocteau said to me: "Your work contains the fire of the image of man--like the Phoenix . . . "I believe in this light. It will not be extinguished.”

“You know one thing that Mr. Powell taught me? He taught me that sometimes, art can make you forget everything else all around you. That's what are can do.”

“I saw my town as if I had just arrived. It was as if I was waking up. You see houses and buildings every day, and you walk by them on your way to something else, and you hardly see. You hardly notice they're even there, mostly because there's something else going on right in front of your face, But when the town itself becomes the thing that is going on right in front of your face, it all changes, and you're not just looking at a house, but at what's happened in that house before you were born.”

“I never knew a building could hold so much inside.. . . I saw my town as if I had just arrived. It was as if I was waking up. You see houses and buildings every day, and you walk by them on your way to something else, and you hardly see. You hardly notice they're even there, mostly because there's something else going on right in front of your face. But when the town itself becomes the thing that is going on right in front of your face, it all changes, and you're not just looking at a house but at what's happened in that house before you were born.”