I am the first to be surprised and often terrified by the images that I see appear on my canvas.

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.

There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad.

The thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents.

Wars have never hurt anybody except the people who die.

It is not necessary for the public to know whether I am joking or whether I am serious, just as it is not necessary for me to know it myself.

Repulsion is the sentry that guards the gate to all that we most desire.

The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.

Have no fear of perfection -- you will never reach it.