Imagination is not the exclusive appanage of artists but belongs in varying degrees to all men.

For us artists there waits the joyous compromise through art with all that wounded or defeated us in daily life in this way not to evade destiny as the ordinary people try to do but to fulfil it in its true potential - the imagination.

Today the function of the artist is to bring imagination to science and science to imagination where they meet in the myth.

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.

I regard the writing of humor as a supreme artistic challenge.

The nation that complacently and fearfully allows its artists and writers to become suspected rather than respected is no longer regarded as a nation possessed with humor or depth.

If you live through the initial stage of fame and get past it and remember thats not who you are. If you live past that then you have a hope of maybe learning how to spell the word artist.

Being an artist is a very long game. It is not a 10-year game. I hope I'll be around making art when I'm 80.

I hope what I do has an art to it and as an artist you have to try new things and keep yourself entertained.

I would hope they would be our fellow artists rather than trying to emulate or idolize clowns like us.

I made a real specific decision when I came out of school and most artists were writing about home - if you were a woman you were writing about being a woman - and I decided not to do that write about what you know. That's not what I do. I went as far away from home as possible in terms of the development of my imagination.

An artist has no home in Europe except in Paris.

The house has to please everyone contrary to the work of art which does not. The work is a private matter for the artist. The house is not.

I have a long-standing history of respecting artists' wishes.

Our culture now wonderfully alchemically transforms images and history into artistic material. The possibilities seem endless and wide open.

Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance.

As musicians and artists it's important we have an environment - and I guess when I say environment I really mean the industry that really nurtures these gifts. Oftentimes the machine can overlook the need to take care of the people who produce the sounds that have a lot to do with the health and well-being of society.