Magic and art arise from an egomaniac's insistence that the artist is right, and the universe wrong.

Of course I'm an egoist. Where do you get if you aren't?

I do what I like, I like what I do.

To be an artist is to believe in life.

I’m an egotist, but I’m not selfish. There’s a difference. I’m a neurotic, I guess. I can’t stop thinking about myself. It isn’t that I think myself so important... I simply can’t think about anything else, that’s all. If I could fall in love with a woman that might help some. But I can’t find a woman who interests me.

I am proud to be an emotionalist.

Эгоист всегда и всюду одинок. Его душа никогда не томится любовью, страданием, постоянством; она безжизненна и холодна и нуждается во сне и покое не больше, чем мертвец. Умеющий любить редко бывает одинок, а когда он одинок, он доволен.

Music is my religion.

I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given. I believed in myself, and I believe in the goodness of others.

an artist is someone who has learned to trust in himself

For it is not what happens to me that makes me great, but it is what I do.

I remember growing up, saying you’re an artist it sounds pretentious but now it’s one of the only dignified things that you can call yourself.

The egotist is all surface; underneath is a pulpy mess and a lot of self-doubt. But the egoist may be yielding and even deferential in things he doesn't consider important; in anything that touches his core he is remorseless.

My art and profession is to live.