I'd sooner be called a successful crook than a destitute monarch.

I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.

I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose.

Sooner barbarity than boredom.

My pain may be the reason for somebody's laugh.
But my laugh must never be the reason for somebody's pain.

That's all any of us are: amateurs. We don't live long enough to be anything else.