Ray Conniff

Mother’s taste was eclectic and ranged from the ancient world to the contemporary from Europe to the U.S.

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.

Bad artists imitate, great artists steal.

The essence of all Art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.

If you hold onto the beauty and inspiration and the clarity that is music, you will have an anchor, you will not be too far swayed by what the world is.

Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.

Can anybody be given creativity? No. Only equipment to develop it if it’s in them in the first place.

I cry out for order and find it only in art.

A museum has to renew its collection to be alive, but that does not mean we give on important old works.

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.

It is unquestionably true that the need for art is not created by economic conditions. But neither is the need for food created by economics. On the contrary, the need for food and warmth creates economics.

There is nothing new… everything has roots in the past.

All art inspires me. Life inspires me. The art of life, thus my own art.

There’s no collection that has a better representation of post-war American art than David Geffen’s.

They decided to establish a museum of modern art where works by contemporary artists would be shown. Mother was viewed as a very progressive person, and not everybody liked the paintings she bought.