The View of life I communicate in my pictures excludes the sordid and the ugly. I paint life as I would like it to be. (Somebody once said that I paint the kind of girls your mother would want you to marry.)
Norman Rockwell, My Adventures As An Illustrator: An Autobiography (1979), p 24
Without thinking too much about it in specific terms, I was showing the America I knew and observed to others who might not have noticed. My fundamental purpose is to interpret the typical American. I am a story teller.
As quoted in Fodor's New England (2008) by Debbie Harmsen, p. 194
I'll never have enough time to paint all the pictures I'd like to.
As quoted in A Rockwell Portrait: An Intimate Biography (1978) by Donald Walton, p. 61
Gary LaCoste had about the most expressive face I ever painted, I guess. Just like an actor's. Very mobile. When he talked, he used all the facial muscles. And he had a great, wide mouth that I liked. When he smiled, it was just like the sun came out.
As quoted in A Rockwell Portrait: An Intimate Biography (1978) by Donald Walton, p. 198
The secret to so many artists living so long is that every painting is a new adventure. So, you see, they're always looking ahead to something new and exciting. The secret is not to look back.
As quoted in A Rockwell Portrait: An Intimate Biography (1978) by Donald Walton, p. 251