Charles Marion Russell

“Any man that can make a living doing what he likes is lucky, and I'm that.”

“In my book a pioneer is a man who turned all the grass upside down, strung barb-wire over the dust that was left, poisoned the water and cut down the trees.”

“The West is dead... you may lose a sweetheart but you won't forget her.”

“I am an illustrator. There are lots of illustrators and only a few painters. The illustrator is a commercial artist and I am a commercial artist.”

“Nature has been my teacher.”

“A cowboy is a man with guts and a horse.”

“The mountains are my church.”

“I am old-fashioned and I am going to stay that way.”

“The West is not a place, it is a state of mind.”

“I paint the things I know.”

“When the land belongs to a man, he is rich. If he has money in the bank, he is not rich.”

“I was born a thousand years too late... and I don't like the world I'm living in.”

“To have talent is no credit to its owner. What man has is a gift from God. What he does with it is his own credit or discredit.”

“The paper is my canvas, the ink is my paint, and my pen is my brush.”

“I have been a cowboy and I have been an artist. I have been a failure at both.”