Matisse’s insistence on Courbert’s philosophy…work is not just inspiration but the result of constant reorganization: of taming nature through rethinking form. (p.8)

“I revise my notion several times over. People often add or superimpose-completing things without changing their plan, whereas I rework my plan every time. I never get tired. I always start again, working from the previous state. I try to work in a contemplative way, which is very difficult: contemplation is inaction, and I act in contemplation.” (p.48)

  
  
“Instead of a search for balance and integration, there is a battle for dominance. Divisions are insisted upon, interdependence is denied….the dualism of superior/inferior…might give way to what seems to me, from here, a much healthier, sounder, more promising modality of integration and integrity.” (p.16)