I was never capable of being ...

I was never capable of being an average pupil. I would either seem refractory to any teaching and give the impression of being completely dumb or I would fling myself on my work with a frenzy, a patience, and a willingness to learn that astonished everybody. But to awaken my zeal, it was necessary to offer me something I liked. Once my appetite had been whetted, I became ravenously hungry.

Salvador Dali

Quotes from the same author

Sometimes I spit on my mother's portrait for pleasure.

Salvador Dali

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

Salvador Dali

The true painter must be able, with the most usual things, to have the most unusual ideas.

Salvador Dali

I think that the sweetest freedom for a man on earth consists in being able to live, if he likes, without having the need to work.

Salvador Dali

We are all hungry and thirsty for concrete images. Abstract art will have been good for one thing: to restore its exact virginity to figurative art.

Salvador Dali