Damien Hirst

“I always ignore money.”

“The idea of being a painter, I've always thought, is better than being an artist or a sculptor.”

“I used to believe I was going to live forever. And then you suddenly become aware that you're not.”

“I was brought up Catholic, and I felt the power of art from a very young age - seeing the brutality of all those images of flayed apostles and tortured saints was a pretty strong introduction.”

“I always look at money not as a motivating factor but as an element in the composition. You can't ignore it, but you've got to be very careful that it's not motivating you.”

“Picasso, Michelangelo, possibly, might be verging on genius, but I don't think a painter like Rembrandt is a genius.”

“'Painting like a child' isn't a negative for me... it's something only great artists can really achieve. The childlike quality of some of Picasso's drawings is precisely what makes them so masterful and extraordinary; the ability to express complete visions, feelings and portraits through a continuous line.”

“I've had laser eye surgery and I don't wear glasses any more, so people just go, 'You're not Damien Hirst.' I don't get recognized on the street.”

“It'd be nice to make lots of money but it's quite difficult, because every time I make lots of money I make a bigger piece that costs lots of money.”

“I realised that you couldn't use the tools of yesterday to communicate today's world. Basically, that was the big light that went on in my head.”

“Most people live in the city and go to the country at the weekend, and that's posh and aristocratic, but actually to live in the country and come to London when you can't take it any more is different.”

“I always feel like the art's there and I just see it, so it's not really a lot of work.”

“Since I was a child, death is definitely something that I think about every day. But I think that everybody does. You try and avoid it, but it's such a big thing that you can't.”

“When it comes to the British monarchy, I prefer to be seduced by an image than presented with a real person. It's kind of a Warhol thing.”

“For me, art is always a kind of theater. When I started the spot paintings, I made them as an endless series. But I was never serious about it being an endless series. It was just an implied endless series. The theater means you just have to make it look good for that moment in the spotlight.”

“I think an ashtray is the most fantastically real thing.”

“People always say that my work is sensational or shocking but there are truly shocking things you could do, and my sculptures don't go anywhere near that.”

“I think money is important for everyone, because the lack of it is so painful.”

“It's such a crass idea - you're either in love or out of love.”

“It's amazing what you can do with an E in A-Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw.”