I left Beijing in 1987, shortly before my books were banned there, but have returned continually.
If I set out to sculpt a standing man and it becomes a lying woman, I know I am making art.
A sculptor is a person obsessed with the form and shape of things.
It is a mistake for a sculptor or a painter to speak or write very often about his job. It releases tension needed for his work.
To know one thing, you must know the opposite.
If an artist tries consciously to do something to others, it is to stretch their eyes, their thoughts, to something they would not see or feel if the artist had not done it. To do this, he has to stretch his own first.
The creative habit is like a drug.
When you let go of your attention for a little while, do not think you may recover it whenever you please.
You don't have to call me 'Mister', Mister; The whole world called me 'Hank'!
If your inner life is not producing what you would like on the outside, don't be discouraged. . . just be willing to change.
That is exciting to reinvent myself, to invent a new character. As an actor that is revitalizing.