LeRoy Neiman Quotes

You can’t take yourself too seriously.

When I paint, I seriously consider the public presence of a person – the surface facade. I am less concerned with how people look when they wake up or how they act at home. A person’s public presence reflects his own efforts at image development.

There’s no greatest moment in the arts. It’s a life, it’s a continuity thing. You can’t have a great moment because it’s spiritual. It’s a belief, it’s a calling. If you’re an artist, doing your own thing on your own, it’s while you’re doing it that counts. It’s a process. If you get too elated, you can get too depressed.

The people who love my paintings, that respond to them the most, they’re spectators, they’re not viewers.

The most important thing is to just do it. If I work at a higher level I have responsibility to do better than what I’ve done before. Sometimes the best happens – beyond possibility. Just do it. Can’t worry about it.