“I don't know what is behind the curtain; only that I need to find out.”

“I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.”

“I don't write about what I know: I write in order to find out what I know.”

“It costs me nothing for curtains, for I have no gazers to shut out but the sun and moon, and I am willing that they should look in...and if he [the sun] is sometimes too warm a friend, I find it still better economy to retreat behind some curtain which nature has provided.”

“The unknownness of my needs frightens me. I do now know how huge they are, or how high they are, I only know that they are not being met. If you want to find out the circumference of an oil drop, you can use lycopodium powder. That’s what I’ll find. A tub of lycopodium powder, and I will sprinkle it on to my needs and find out how large they are. Then when I meet someone I can write up the experiment and show them what they have to take on.”

“I don’t listen to what art critics say. I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.”