"Every painting I do is related to the last one: it may be a continuation of a previous painting or it may be a reaction against it."

"I feel constricted if I become too much aware of the act of making. Liberty is lost and instead of an instinctual lyrical expression the whole thing becomes arid."

"You just don't want to push people into doing things that they really don't want to do. I don't think it's going to produce much."

"The one thing you've got to say about Columbia is that it has courses that are famous. It has alumni who come back and say it was the best thing they ever did."

"I no longer worry whether a painting is about something or not. I am only concerned with the expectation, from a flat surface, of an illusion."

"The British system had requirements, including Latin. I'm not positive you ever had to know Greek, but there are certainly kinds of curricula where you had to know Greek too. I think in Britain there was the most mindless, repetitive sort of learning."

"On occasion I have drawn as a release from painting. The economy in using paper, pencil, charcoal and crayon can help towards a greater gamble and higher rewards. I also find that drawing can generate ideas more rapidly than painting."

"There are certain authors that do not turn students on; it is the truth. Homer happens to be one of them."