There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad.

I do not take drugs. I am drugs.

The problem with the youth of today is that one is no longer part of it.

Thank God I am still an atheist.

Have no fear of perfection. You will never reach it.

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing

To paint a picture is either very simple or impossible.

What is a television apparatus to man, who has only to shut his eyes to see the most inaccessible regions of the seen and the never seen, who has only to imagine in order to pierce through walls and cause all the planetary Baghdads of his dreams to rise from the dust.

I like it, murder, because this is courage. It is anti-bourgeois. Murder is closer to heaven, because after becoming remords of conscience, one prays, one opens the sky, and the angels say, "Good morning!" From an interview originally conducted by Victor Bockris in 1974.

Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad. 27 September 1976

There are some days when I think I'm going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.

At the age of 6, I wanted to be a female cook. At 7, Napoleon. After that, my ambition just went on growing. I wanted to be Salvador Dali and nobody else.

Many people do not reach their eighties because they spend too much time in their forties.

In the subconscious you fuck ugly people, never beautiful, because the libido always desires something repulsive. From an interview originally conducted by Victor Bockris in 1974.

What is an elegant woman? An elegant woman is a woman who despises you and who has no hair under her arms.

Every morning upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dalí.

You know the worst thing is freedom. Freedom of any kind is the worst for creativity. You know, Dalí spent two months in jail in Spain, and these two months were the most enjoyable and happy in my life. Before my jail period, I was always nervous, anxious. I didn’t know if I should make a drawing, or perhaps make a poem, or go to the movies or the theatre, or catch a girl, or play with the boys. The people put me in jail, and my life became divine. Tremendous! From an interview originally conducted by Victor Bockris in 1974.

Ah, UNESCO is the most garbage. Any kind of organization for the good will of the people is impossible. It is necessary for the contrary. Young people need plenty of difficulties to achieve something, you know? If you receive a little money for this, a little money for that, everything becomes mediocre, and collapses ig-no-min-i-ously! From an interview originally conducted by Victor Bockris in 1974.

The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.