Bob Ross

"I started painting as a hobby when I was little. I didnt know I had any talent. I believe talent is just a pursued interest. Anybody can do what I do."

"Absolutely have to have dark in order to have light. [...] Gotta have opposites – dark and light, light and dark – continually in a painting. If you have light on light, you have nothing. If you have dark on dark, you basically have nothing. [...] You know, its like in life: youve gotta have a little sadness once in a while, so you know when the good times come. Im waiting on the good times now."

"In painting, you have unlimited power. You have the ability to move mountains. You can bend rivers. But when I get home, the only thing I have power over is the garbage."

"We dont make mistakes; we just have happy accidents. And thats when you really experience the joy of painting."

"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything that youre willing to practice, you can do."

"Traditionally, art has been for the select few. We have been brainwashed to believe that Michaelangelo had to pat you on the head at birth. Well, we show people that anybody can paint a picture that theyre proud of. It may never hang in the Smithsonian, but it will certainly be something that theyll hang in their home and be proud of. And thats what its all about."

"People have success with this method and it gets them excited. It gets them hooked. You can put layers of thick paint on thin paint and that allows you to complete a painting in one sitting."

"I have to paint fast on television because of the limited time, but I dont want people to see what Im showing them as work, something to worry and fret over. This is supposed to be fun."

"Ive never claimed that this is investment art. When we first started out, all the art colleges and universities across the country would sort of badmouth what we were doing. Its funny that a lot of them now are sending us letters saying, We may not totally agree with the way you paint, but we appreciate what youre doing, because youre sending literally thousands of people into art colleges."

"Within one hour of touching the brush to canvas for the first time, my students have a total, complete painting."