George Bernard Shaw

A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic.

I have to live for others and not for myself: that’s middle-class morality.

Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself.

An Englishman thinks he is moral when he is only uncomfortable.

Art is not a thing; it is a way.

Mother’s interest in contemporary American artists emerged during the 1920s.

To this day I’m really not sure if I was playing Ziggy [Stardust] or if Ziggy was exaggerated aspects of my own personality. A fair amount of psychological baggage was undoubtedly coming out through the character. Because I felt awkward and nervous and inadequate with myself, it felt easier to be somebody else.

The truth is of course is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time.

She opened up a book of poems and handed it to me written by an Italian poet from the 13th century and every one of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal pouring off of every page like it was written in my soul from me to you.

I wouldn’t give five cents for all the art in the world.

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

One of the things about creativity is you can be in denial about these things. When I found out I had cancer, there were four hours in which I was pounding my head on the marble kitchen top saying, “I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it.” But then I felt as if this little army in uniform was flooding me. They had come to help me fight it. I felt really strong about it after that. It was one of the strongest periods of my life.

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

Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide.

What’s any artist, but the dregs of his work? the human shambles that follows it around. What’s left of the man when the work’s done but a shambles of apology.

The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it. Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation.

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.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

I hope the Guggenheim plan will be revived.