Any artist always has misgivings about calling himself an artist.

I can do whatever I want. They will tell me if what I am doing is stupid or a total waste of time. I may tell them that they are wrong, and we will come to an agreement.

I write my programs primarily for myself.

You must know in your heart before anyone else does what is going to be good and then follow through.

Robots... I think that is a hot topic.

I started on an Apple II, which I had bought at the very end of 1978 for half of my annual income. I made $4,500 a year, and I spent half of it on the computer.

Everything is getting bigger. The way to go now is to program in a little more sophistication.

Even though Raster Blaster was only a video game, I was learning about designing stuff. I got good at drawing.

On the robot kit, I can choose very boring parts or I can choose exciting and interesting parts. That is a reflection of my personality and the kinds of things I am interested in.

I think a craft becomes an art form when the space of possible solutions becomes so huge that engineering can't carry you through.

The power of the computer is starting to spread.

I'm a great coder. But I am not pushing that so much anymore because there are thousands of great coders.

All of the good stuff is going to be done in the future. The stuff we are doing now is crummy compared with what will finally mature.

I have a really powerful urge to see things work.

I really think it is amazing that people actually buy software.

Video games are engineered now, but the step I am trying to take, no one can engineer.

Any artist always has misgivings about calling himself an artist.

I know when something is kind of half-baked.

It always helps to be a good programmer. It is important to like computers and to be able to think of things people would want to do with their computers.

To be honest, I look at my Pinball program and feel that it is old stuff. I could do much better.

You will be able to program a robot to follow a track on the ground and manipulate a hand. You can also write little programs that will give the robots goals.

When I am starting a new game, I have to program it for the Apple, because I want to get all of the markets.

A quiet personality sure isn't what you need to attract attention.

The Apple has the fewest bells and whistles. It has simple sound and few graphics special effects. In a way, that is a weakness because markets for the other machines are getting bigger.

After two weeks of working on a project, you know whether it will work or not.

The program should know if someone is at the keyboard or joystick or if it is just sitting there idle. It should know if someone is proficient in its use or a novice.

Being a cover artist is not like being a real artist. That's just copying what someone else did.

The artist need not know very much; best of all let him work instinctively and paint as naturally as he breathes or walks.

What an artist learns matters little. What he himself discovers has a real worth for him, and gives him the necessary incitement to work.

Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it. The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.

I'm inspired by nature. Other artist's work is important for developing my perception.

There is only one position for an artist anywhere; and that is upright.

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.

To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious choice to compromise his music, to to weaken his music for the sake of commercial gain.

What do you say when someone has truly inspired you? How do you express to an artist how deeply their work has affected you?

An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.

When I say artist I mean the man who is building things - creating molding the earth - whether it be the plains of the west - or the iron ore of Penn. It's all a big game of construction - some with a brush - some with a shovel - some choose a pen.

You have to find what makes you stable in the storm. Then, no matter what's happening round you, no matter what the hype or the publicity, you can still manage to make leaps in your work as an artist.

The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows another... and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.

I've always felt that if one was going to take seriously this vocation as an artist, you have to get beyond that decorative facade.

Art is a private thing, the artist makes it for himself; a comprehensible work is the product of a journalist. We need works that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding.

The most colorful section of a bookstore is the display of SF books, with art by people like Wayne Barlow, who is a terrific artist.

Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions of childhood, he ceases being an artist.

Let not a man do what his sense of right bids him not to do, nor desire what it forbids him to desire. This is sufficient. The skillful artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman.

I so much appreciate it when anybody tries to make something and tries to be an artist - I'm happy to see the work.

The artist is seen like a producer of commodities, like a factory that turns our refrigerators.

I've also been willing to share any help that I could give to any other artist.

An artist, under pain of oblivion, must have confidence in himself, and listen only to his real master: Nature.

What is it they want from the man that they didn't get from the work? What do they expect? What is there left when he's done with his work, what's any artist but the dregs of his work, the human shambles that follows it around?