Van Cliburn

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.

MoMA is doubling its space, and I decided to raise the money for it.

Truth exists in art.

Everybody has that feeling when they look at a work of art and it’s right, that sudden familiarity, a sort of…recognition, as though they were creating it themselves, as though it were being created through them while they look at it or listen to it.

People with talent are not interested in showing off behind another person.

I got more publicity for not doing a festival than for doing the festival.

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.

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

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

This type of soul, this type of art takes a while to cook. It’s like when my wife cooks for me and I always ask for greens. She never wants to cook the greens because they take three hours to cook.

The arts are at the center of a nation’s purpose and a test of civilization.

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.

Nothing will stop you from being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.

If you believe in your art and you love what you do, that energy will go out and people will respond.

The role of a museum of modern art is to make a good selection and identify what we believe to be the coming movements, and that requires taste.