E.L. Doctorow on the writing process:

Here's  how it goes:  I'm up at the stroke of 10 or 10:30.  I have breakfast and read the papers, and then it's lunchtime.  Then maybe a little nap after lunch and out to the gym, and before I know it, it's time to have a drink.

Agnes Martin on being an artist:

There is the idea that art is not a ‘legitimate’ type of work; that it is a frivolity best saved for spare time, etc; or a luxury for the wealthy.  But for artists who have a vision that they are compelled to share, art isn’t a frivolity or luxury- it’s a necessity.  And for society, art is also a necessity, although this may not be realized by many.  We are the spirit keepers, the mirrors, the candles.  And we need to become our own best friends- to believe in ourselves and what we do.  And stick together, rather than compete with one another.

Thomas Edison:

Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.

 

There is no substitute for hard work.

 

Manny Vega on the art making process:

Everybody wants instant art.  This is old school.  A good design, some good materials, and shut up and do the work.  There is no shortcut.

 

Beatrice Wood:

I think it’s a great privelege to live the way I do now…in beauty with many friends and the freedom to do what I wish, which happens to be pottery and chasing men… but they don’t know it.

 

Esther Dyson:

Always make new mistakes.

 

Dean Martin:

There are two things every man should know about a woman, and nobody knows what they are.

Gustav Flaubert:

Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.

 

Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain:

I tried not to let my schooling interfere with my education.

Anita Steckel:

Good taste is the enemy of art.  It's wonderful for curtains but in art it's suffocating.