Walter Keane

"My psyche was scarred in my art student days in Europe, just after World War II, by an ineradicable memory of war-wracked innocents.  In their eyes lurk all of mankind's questions and answers.  If man…"

"Well, I first, uh, started doing this after World War II when I was kind of tramping around France, Germany, and the lowlands, and I came upon these frightened, waif-type children, and, uh, they actua…"

"It takes dispassionate bravado to speak of oneself in the third person.  Walter has such bravado: it is one of the chief reasons for his success."

"I don't really care what people think of me.  Whatever anyone may say, I've helped the whole art world, just as Picasso and Dalí have.  I've made people aware of painting, which makes them buy more, j…"

"But it was a real nightmare when Walter threatened to kill me and our two daughters if we told anyone."

"Walter was extremely charming.  He could charm anybody, especially women."

"Let's face it, nobody could paint eyes like El Greco, and nobody can paint eyes like Walter Keane."

"We don't criticize them, so why criticize Walter Keane just because his symbol of humanity is a child?"