My movies are important on an economic basis on an artistic basis.

When we talk about Oscars it's almost as a symbol of excellence and the American public and the worldwide public accept that symbol. So a movie like 'The Artist' that costs $14 million has to go out and compete with movies that cost $140 million. How does David deal with Goliath?

I think a lot of people do big movies not because they are talented artists but because they can function in the circumstances.

I've just finished my 20th book this past year and I'm working on my 21st book about the Middle East right now that I'll finish this year. And I get up early in the morning and when I get tired of the computer and tired of doing research I walk 20 steps out to my woodshop and I either build furniture or paint paintings. I'm an artist too.

At one time there were voiceover artists now there are celebrity voiceover artists. It's unfortunate because these people need the money less than the voiceover artist.

That is why the analogy of stealing does not work. With a thief we want to know how much money he stole and from whom. With the artist it is not how much he took and from whom but what he did with it.

In the seventies a group of American artists seized the means not of production but of reproduction. They tore apart visual culture at a time of no money no market and no one paying attention except other artists. Vietnam and Watergate had happened everything in America was being questioned.

One argument goes that recessions are good for female artists because when money flies out the window women are allowed in the house. The other claims that when money ebbs so do prospects for women.

Some artists are working to buy the mansion or whatever the element of fame must bear but I spend all my money on my show.

Everyone in my family is an artist. Both my parents are painters and my mom's an opera singer. I was never shown any other way to process life.

My dad is a lawyer and my mom is an artist. So growing up was exactly what it sounds like - strict household but a lot of creativity. They are so psyched that I get to make music for a living. My parents rule.

I hope that through my work artists will take some chances break some rules and make art that comes from inside of them. I would like to be remembered as a kind person a great Mom and a bit unruly - in a good way!

Of course I would be depressed sometimes and my Mom would be worried about me because I would just sleep to escape. Cause I was so scared of being a musician or artist or whatever you want to call it.

It was my mom and I against the world. We lived in New York in this bohemian lifestyle where an extended group of artists and photographers were like my aunts and uncles.

I grew up painting and playing piano so when I was a little kid I thought I was going to be an artist or a painter but my mom had me taking piano lessons for about 10-12 years as a young kid.

I like to write and draw and paint and my mom's an artist so I think I get caught up in thinking 'I'm afraid it's gonna be bad ' and it's hard for me to start sometimes.

My mom and I were super tight. I think she really wanted me to be an artist you know? She used to like to tell people she wanted to be Beethoven's mother. That was her thing. She wanted to be the mother of this person.

An artist needn't be a clergyman or a churchwarden but he certainly must have a warm heart for his fellow men.

Almost all the noblest things that have been achieved in the world have been achieved by poor men poor scholars poor professional men poor artisans and artists poor philosophers poets and men of genius.

I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin to draw out its sounds and chords and harmonies.

I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.

The more I think about it the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.

It's tangible it's solid it's beautiful. It's artistic from my standpoint and I just love real estate.

We must declare ourselves become known allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love but the emotion itself.