When I was a child, my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk you'll end up as the pope.' Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter? I don't own any of my own paintings because a Picasso original costs several thousand dollars -- it's a luxury I can't afford. I do not seek. I find. When you come right down to it all you have is yourself. The sun is a thousand rays in your belly. All the rest is nothing. They ought to put out the eyes of painters as they do goldfinches in order that they can sing better. There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality. | 
