The desperate things seem to require attention, the lovely things seem to elicit celebration. If I had to choose, I would go to the awful in the hope that doing something could yield a happier result.
I try to excite myself so I stay crazy.
Being alone with yourself is increasingly unpopular.
Remember you always have freedom of choice.
I wanted to support things that are helpful to people and maybe bash what I think is dangerous. So I switched from being everybody to being myself.
Lack of charisma can be fatal.
THERE IS A PERIOD WHEN IT IS CLEAR THAT YOU HAVE GONE WRONG BUT YOU CONTINUE. SOMETIMES THERE IS A LUXURIOUS AMOUNT OF TIME BEFORE ANYTHING BAD HAPPENS.
The greatest disappointment is when you let yourself down.
Romantic love was invented to manipulate women
Alienation produces eccentrics or revolutionaries.
Well, I think in trying to make life seem real enough that one is moved to do something about the more atrocious things. By going really far afield into a completely fake world, maybe there's a chance to make things resonant somehow - or in this case, truly terrifying. To make it as bad as the real stuff that's happening.
Faithfulness is a social not a biological law.
Drama often obscures the real issues
I was hesitant to approach people. I'm socially awkward. But I was working on a number of memorials, and finally it dawned on me: These are memorials to people who wrote, so I should use their writing. That's how I started to quit.
I'm always trying to bring unusual content to a different audience - a non-art-world audience.
The most profound things are inexpressible.
A lot of professionals are crackpots.
Going with the flow is soothing but risky.
TRYING TO BE POPULAR IN HIGH SCHOOL IS LIKE TRYING TO BE MAYOR OF A CITY THAT WON'T EXIST IN FOUR YEARS.
It's necessary to start most work alone. But I'm tickled to death when I can pull somebody in or join someone, whether it's borrowing poetry or traveling with an associate.
I used language because I wanted to offer content that people - not necessarily art people - could understand.
What urge will save us now that sex won't?
I moved to New York in the 1970s and started writing when I was at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.
Savor kindness because cruelty is always possible later.
Anger or hate can be a useful motivating force
All things are delicately interconnected.
A positive attitude means all the difference in the world.
Hands on your breast can keep your heart beating.
BY YOUR RESPONSE TO DANGER IT IS EASY TO TELL HOW YOU HAVE LIVED AND WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO YOU. YOU SHOW WHETHER YOU WANT TO STAY ALIVE, WHETHER YOU THINK YOU DESERVE TO, AND WHETHER YOU BELIEVE IT'S ANY GOOD TO ACT.
A little knowledge can go a long way.
Killing is unavoidable but is nothing to be proud of
Knowing yourself lets you understand others.
My arrogance knows no bounds and I will make no peace today, and you should be so lucky to find a woman like me.
Turn soft and lovely anytime you have the chance.
A name means a lot just by itself.
Enjoy yourself because you can't change anything anyway
It can be kind of gruesome at times, making things alone.
It's better to be a good person than a famous person.
Raise boys and girls the same way.
Someone else's body is a place for your mind to go.
I wasn't sure I was an artist, so I thought maybe I just was throwing ideas out for people to consider.
Expiring for love is beautiful but stupid.
Usually going places makes me feel optimistic. And I'm a hillbilly, so heading to the countryside made sense a number of ways.
A sense of duty imprisons you.
A sense of timing is the mark of a genius.
You are a victim of the rules you live by.
It can be kind of gruesome at times, making things alone. I don't want to be too dramatic, but it's hard. It's necessary to start most work alone.
Being happy is more important than anything else.
I think of a piece, and then people who are competent fabricate it. But lately I've started finger painting, which probably should be a joke but isn't!
I'd been doing projects outdoors for the public. I made pigeons eat geometry by putting bread out in rhomboids and triangles. I don't know if this activity made sense, but the work was available.
One of the glories and terrors of working in public is that you do see if your output means anything to anyone.
I seldom have my stuff up unless I'm testing it. If I'm worrying about a painting, I put it up and see if I detest it quickly or slowly. Otherwise I have things by other artists.
At times your unconsciousness is truer than your conscious mind
Use what is dominant in a culture to change it quickly.
If you are an artist and you are honest, you are never good enough.
I wanted to be an abstract painter, but I was rotten at it.
Boredom makes you do crazy things
Sloppy thinking gets worse over time.
It's good to be employable, but I hope to show the truth. The paintings seem true because nobody wants me to do them.
Fear is the most elegant weapon, your hands are never messy
When my daughter was young, she thought all electronic signs were mine.
Turn soft and lovely any time you have a chance
At times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning.
Exceptional people deserve special concessions.
Deviants are sacrificed to increase group solidarity
Stupid people shouldn’t breed.
Any surplus is immoral.
It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender.
It's important to keep life simple, and if I'm traveling, I only can do a couple of things, and those are the things that I'm meant to be doing.
Expressing anger is necessary.
I am not free because I can be exploded anytime.
I get up about four times a night and go back to sleep, or not. Then I swill tea around 8 a.m. I answer e-mail, while I stall thinking about whatever scares me.
Disgust is the appropriate response to most situations
SPIT ALL OVER SOMEONE WITH A MOUTHFUL OF MILK IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR PERSONALITY FAST.
It is embarrassing to be caught and killed for stupid reasons
It's fun wandering around other people's minds.
Everyone's work is equally important.
That's the test of street art – to see if anybody stopped. People would cross out ones they didn't like and would star others. I liked that people would engage with them.
Protect me from what I want.
On the worst days, I don't feel like an artist.
I really like doing the laundry, because I succeed at it. But I loathe putting it away. It is already clean.
How do you resign yourself to something that will never be? You stop wanting just that thing. You go numb. Or you kill the agent of desire.
There's a fine line between information and propaganda.
Ensure that your life stays in flux.
The epiphany for me was that I wasnt a writer, and I had to do something with these texts. I put them in the streets as posters.
When you start liking pain things start to get interesting.
If you have many desires your life will be interesting.
Slipping into madness is good for the sake of comparison
Abuse of power comes as no surprise
