"Painting is the same kind of problem..." - Quote by Winston Churchill

“Diplomacy is the art of telling plain truths without giving offense.”

“I know of no case where a man added to his dignity by standing on it.”

“Victory is only wrested by running risks.”

“Very great charm of shadow and light is to be found in the faces of those who sit in the doors of dark houses. The eye of the spectator sees that part of the face which is in shadow lost in the darkness of the house, and that part of the face which is lit draws its brilliancy from the splendour of the sky. From this intensification of light and shade the face gains greatly in relief and beauty by showing the subtlest shadows in the light part and the subtlest lights in the dark part.”

“If there is to be art, if there is to be any aesthetic doing and seeing, one physiological condition is indispensable: frenzy.”

“Listen to presences inside poems.”

“Writing is the easiest thing in the world.... Just try it sometime. I sit up with a pipe in my mouth and a board on my knees and I scribble away.”

“I cannot judge my work while I am doing it. I have to do as painters do, stand back and view it from a distance, but not too great a distance. How great? Guess.”

“As soon as your mind knows that it's on and it's supposed to produce some lines, either it doesn't or it produces things that are very predictable. And that's why I say I'm not interested in writing something that I thought about. I'm interested in discovering where my mind wants to go, or what object it wants to pick up.”