David Bailey

“Instead of putting someone in prison for being a hooligan, give him a choice. He may have beaten someone up and he's got eight years, but tell him you can do eight years inside or spend five years in the Army. Put him in the Parachute Regiment, they'd soon sort him out.”

“I don't think it matters where I came from any more.”

“I never tried to revolutionise photography; I just do what I do and keep my fingers crossed that people will like it.”

“I am mad about my wife.”

“I'm an image-maker.”

“Everyone gets old - there's nothing you can do about it.”

“I don't see the point of photographing trees or rocks because they're there and anyone can photograph them if they're prepared to hang around and wait for the light.”

“I love people for giving me their time. It's a privilege - I make the most of it.”

“I don't like any sport except boxing and bull fighting.”

“I did painting before I did photography.”

“I never set out to be a photographer.”

“Photography is more about money now but then so are most things.”

“Being dyslexic, I was told that I was an idiot all the time.”

“Botticelli would have made a very good fashion photographer. He did eight heads instead of seven heads in a body, which is fashion illustration.”

“People want security in this insecure world.”

“I am not responsible for all the journalists in the past that have told lies.”

“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.”

“I don't do proud.”

“To get rich, you have to be making money while you're asleep.”

“Good shoes are important. I wear English brogues in a wide fitting. They last me years.”