David Rockefeller

You know, gentlemen, that I do not owe any personal income tax. But nevertheless, I send a small check, now and then, to the Internal Revenue Service out of the kindness of my heart.

I learned more from my mother than from all the art historians and curators who have informed me about technical aspects of art history and art appreciation over the years.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the current economic recession, which is particularly powerful in New York City, have put a number of building plans on hold for the time being.

The Japanese have a wonderful sense of design and a refinement in their art. They try to produce beautiful paintings with the minimum number of strokes.

By a museum, I assume you mean an institution dedicated to the events of Sept. 11 and the aftermath. If that is done with sensitivity, I think it would be most appropriate.

When I see something I like, I buy it, but I do not look for it madly.

The conventional notions of art have changed, and a lot of things done today are considered works of art that would have been rejected in the past.

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

Art is constant tension and release. That is where artists live, between the two or at times, submerged in either.

All art inspires me. Life inspires me. The art of life, thus my own art.

Art is self expression. If you are expressing someone else’s personality, that is not art.

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

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

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

Have no fear of perfection. You’ll never reach it.

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

I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.

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

A poem is a naked person… Some people say that I am a poet.

Can anybody be given creativity? No. Only equipment to develop it if it’s in them in the first place.

Surrealism had a great effect on me because then I realised that the imagery in my mind wasn’t insanity. Surrealism to me is reality.