In a way, my father was lucky. He had a hunch that his vision of the National Gallery would interest other collectors and persuade them to come in with him, and that hunch proved to be right.

My father was adamant in his disapproval of my interest in show business.

Doubtless there are things in nature which have not yet been seen. If an artist discovers them, he opens the way for his successors.

I always knew I wanted to make my own way; I never wanted to be dependent on my father.

He who obeys God's laws finds him a father. He who disobeys them, finds him a judge.

Within 18 months of my parents' marriage in 1900, my mother fell in love with an Englishman who would have described himself as a gentleman but who was, in fact, nothing more than a devious adventurer.