Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him. “It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

*

“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.”

“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.”

“Everything you can imagine is real.”

“An idea is a point of departure and no more. As soon as you elaborate it, it becomes transformed by thought.”

“Never permit a dichotomy to rule your life, a dichotomy in which you hate what you do so you can have pleasure in your spare time. Look for a situation in which your work will give you as much happiness as your spare time.”

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”

“One does a whole painting for one peach and people think just the opposite — that particular peach is but a detail.”

“Every positive value has its price in negative terms… the genius of Einstein leads to Hiroshima.”

“There are only two types of women – goddesses and doormats.”

“Bad artists copy. Good artists steal.”

*

And somehow he was never called an asshole.