Sebastian Horsley

“I regret everything. But so what? At least I have cause.”

“The universe is neither friendly nor hostile. It is merely indifferent. This makes me ecstatic.”

“Why shouldn't I be allowed to say stupid, outrageous things?”

“People who have a reputation for being evil are usually good.”

“I am half-Byronic, half-moronic; part-shaman, part-showman.”

“Being a dandy is a condition rather than a profession. It is a defense against suffering and a celebration of life.”

“The problem with compassion is that it is not photogenic.”

“I am not an intellectual. An intellectual is someone who looks at a sausage and thinks of Picasso, whereas I just say 'pass the mustard'.”

“Dandyism is a lie which reveals the truth, and the truth is that we are what we pretend to be.”

“I don't talk, I quote. I can't help it. It's better to be quotable than honest.”

“I keep the shutters closed because I like to work in a hermetic environment. I like mirrors. When you look out of the window, all you see is ugliness, but when you look in the mirror all you see is beauty.”

“I think you are born, and I think you die. I have a pragmatic nature, but I yearn to believe.”

“I used to have about a hundred suits in my late twenties and early thirties when my stock was riding high and I was rich.”

“I like to remind myself that every morning I'm making a choice to live.”

“My grandfather was a practising Quaker. My father was a nihilist. But nihilism, if you like, is the beginning of faith anyway.”

“I consider myself to be very correct and proper: an upright citizen.”

“I do a lot of things for effect, which is not to say I am superficial, but that I know how to put ideas across.”

“Pain can be vitalising; it gives intensity in the place of vagueness and emptiness. If we don't suffer, how do we know that we live?”

“A woman is supposed to have curves like an old Bentley, not like some old bike.”

“If I hear that people are litigious, I immediately dismiss them.”