Bob Ross quotes:

Oooh, if you have never been to Alaska, go there while it is still wild. My favorite uncle asked me if I wanted to go there, Uncle Sam. He said if you don't go, you're going to jail. That is how Uncle Sam asks you.

I really believe that if you practice enough you could paint the 'Mona Lisa' with a two-inch brush.

Trees cover up a multitude of sins.

Don't be afraid to scrape the paint off and do it again. This is the way you learn, trial and error, over and over, repetition. It pays you great dividends, great, great dividends.

Ever make mistakes in life? Let's make them birds. Yeah, they're birds now.

I tell people, 'You can do this.' And they write back and say, 'You were right. I can do this. And now I believe I can do anything.'

I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work. The job requires you to be a mean, tough person. And I was fed up with it. I promised myself that if I ever got away from it, it wasn't going to be that way any more.

There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.

Traditionally, art has been for the select few. We have been brainwashed to believe that Michelangelo had to pat you on the head at birth.

Within one hour of touching the brush to canvas for the first time, my students have a total, complete painting.

Most painters want recognition, especially by their peers. I achieved that a long time ago with TV. I don't need any more.

If you study my paintings, there are no signs of human life.

We show people that anybody can paint a picture that they're proud of. It may never hang in the Smithsonian, but it will certainly be something that they'll hang in their home and be proud of. And that's what it's all about.

Everybody has dreams. You are living the American dream, what's wrong with pushing to secure it for everyone?

Tender as a mothers love... And with my mother, that was certainly true.

Just let go - and fall like a little waterfall

I don't intimidate anyone. Instead, I try to get people to believe in themselves.

Now then, let's come right down in here and put some nice big strong arms on these trees. Tree needs an arm too. It'll hold up the weight of the forest. Little bird has to have a place to set there. There he goes...

You do your best work if you do a job that makes you happy.

We get letters every day from people wanting more mountains. As many as I paint, they still say, 'Give me more mountains.'

Put light against light - you have nothing. Put dark against dark - you have nothing. It's the contrast of light and dark that each give the other one meaning.

I have to paint fast on television because of the limited time, but I don't want people to see what I'm showing them as work, something to worry and fret over. This is supposed to be fun.

In painting, you have unlimited power. You have the ability to move mountains. You can bend rivers. But when i get home the only thing i have power over is the garbage.

I never turn down requests for interviews. I'm just rarely asked.

One of the questions that I hear over and over and over is, 'What do we do with all these paintings we do on television?' Most of these paintings are donated to PBS stations across the country. They auction them off, and they make a happy buck with 'em.

Traditionally, art has been for the select few.

Most painters want recognition, especially by their peers.

wash the brush, just beats the devil out of it

If you learned how to make a cloud, your time is not wasted.

Let's build us a happy, little cloud that floats around the sky.

It's the imperfections that make something beautiful, that's what makes it different and unique from everything else.

Trees don't grow even, they don't grow straight just however it makes them happy.

People might look at you a bit funny, but it's okay. Artists are allowed to be a bit different.

You can do ANYTHING you want to do-This is your World

I don't know if anything in nature ever grows exactly the same, but they are always exactly as the way it should be, perfectly itself.

You can do anything your heart can imagine.

Talent is a pursued interest. Anything that you're willing to practice, you can do.

People look at me like I'm a little strange, when I go around talking to squirrels and rabbits and stuff. That's ok. That's just ok.

We have no limits to our world. We're only limited by our imagination.

Whatever makes you happy, you put in your world.

There's nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend.

Everyone is going to see things differently - and that's the way it should be.

I can't think of anything more rewarding than being able to express yourself to others through painting. Exercising the imagination, experimenting with talents, being creative; these things, to me, are truly the windows to your soul.

Remember, you can do anything in your world that you want to.

The secret to doing anything is believing that you can do it. Anything that you believe you can do strong enough, you can do. Anything. As long as you believe.

Talk to the tree, make friends with it.

It's hard to see things when you're too close. Take a step back and look.

We don't make mistakes, just happy little accidents.

Think about a cloud. Just float around and be there.

There are no mistakes, just happy accidents.

There's nothing in the world that breeds success like success.

Happy painting and God Bless, my friend.

No pressure. Just relax and watch it happen.

The secret to doing anything is believing you can do it.

Possessing talent is nothing more than the continuous pursuit of a life-long interest.

Never think about the mistakes you made. Think about the mistakes you will make.

Use absolutely no pressure. Just like an angel's wing.

If you do too much it's going to lose its effectiveness.

All you need to paint is a few tools, a little instruction, and a vision in your mind.

I started painting as a hobby when I was little. I didn't know I had any talent. I believe talent is just a pursued interest. Anybody can do what I do.

I believe, I believe every day is a good day when you paint.

There are thousands of very, very talented artists who will never be known, even after they are dead.

We don't laugh because we feel good; we feel good because we laugh.

It's so important to do something every day that will make you happy

Little more black, little more blue. And we'll just put that in using little crisscross strokes or--or little X's, whatever you want to call them. Whatever.

We dont make mistakes. We have happy accidents.

We want our happy little clouds to float across the sky

The least little bit can do so much.

If I paint something, I don't want to have to explain what it is.

We artists are a different breed of people. We're a happy bunch.

I stay hidden. I'm sort of hard to find.

Everyday's a good day when you paint

I've never claimed that this is investment art. When we first started out, all the art colleges and universities across the country would sort of badmouth what we were doing. It's funny that a lot of them now are sending us letters saying, 'We may not totally agree with the way you paint, but we appreciate what you're doing, because you're sending literally thousands of people into art colleges.