“Who wants to do good in this world must deny oneself. A man does not live on this Earth to be happy or to be honest only - he has to do great things for humanity, achieve the generosity of the spirit and rise above the banality where most of the people are drowning and wasting their days.”

“God is imagined as a rich, old gentleman who is very happy that things are going so smooth here on Earth that he had created.”

“An artist would not rise above the mediocrity if he condemns it.”

“I cannot draw a human figure if I don't know the order of his bones, muscles or tendons. Same is that I cannot draw a human face if I don't know what's going on his mind and heart. In order to paint life one must understand not only anatomy, but what people feel and think about the world they live in. The painter who knows his own craft and nothing else will turn out to be a very superficial artist.”

“Misery is the only thing in the world that has no end or edge.”

“An artist does not have to think about what he is doing.”

“One should not become an artist because he can, but because he must. It is only for those who would be miserable without it.”