Beauty and the devil are the same thing.
— Robert Mapplethorpe
I am selfish, but that's an attribute that all artists possess.
I don't believe in dogmas and theologies. I just believe in being a good person.
I just hope I can live long enough to see the fame.
I played around with the flowers and the lighting, so that was a good way to educate myself.
I should try to get some sleep as one doesn't know what tomorrow may bring.
I would never have done what I'd done if I'd considered my father as somebody I wanted to please.
I've never lied. I think I've lived a moral life.
Just because I was out at the bars all the time didn't mean I wasn't looking for someone to love.
My theory about creativity is that the more money one has, the more creative one can be.
Sell the public flowers... things that they can hang on their walls without being uptight.
This AIDS stuff is pretty scary. I hope I don't get it.
When I work, and in my art, I hold hands with God.
You're never going to get anywhere in life if you don't live up to your obligations.
Happiness? No, it's not there for me.
I became the toast of London. A lot of people I met came from these really decadent families where the married men were gay and no one thought anything about it.
I don't know why my pictures come out looking so good. I just don't get it.
I just try to live my life and do my thing.
I recorded that because it happened to me. I wasn't making a point.
I went into photography because it seemed like the perfect vehicle for commenting on the madness of today's existence.
I'm not a photojournalist.
If I am at a party, I want to be at the party. Too many photographers use the camera to avoid participating in things. They become professional observers.
My father wants me to be like my brother, but I can't be.
One must ease the public into it - that's an art in itself.
The more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer.
To make pictures big is to make them more powerful.
Whenever you make love to someone, there should be three people involved - you, the other person, and the devil.
I'm looking for the unexpected. I'm looking for things I've never seen before.
I always thought I was good. That's why it was so frustrating when other people didn't agree.
I can't have just anybody assisting me, I need somebody who I can really communicate with.
I don't think any collector knows his true motivation.
I just want to be written about as a normal artist.
I see things like they've never been seen before. Art is an accurate statement of the time in which it is made.
I wish I could be elegant.
I'm not photographing anything naked these days. I haven't been concentrating on bodies recently.
If I have to change my lifestyle, I don't want to live.
My lifestyle is bizarre, but the only thing you need to know is where the darkroom is.
People don't have time to wait for somebody to paint their portraits anymore. The money is in photography.
The photographs that are art have to be separated from the rest - then preserved.
When I have sex with someone I forget who I am. For a minute I even forget I'm human. It's the same thing when I'm behind a camera. I forget I exist.
With photography, you zero in; you put a lot of energy into short moments, and then you go on to the next thing.
I am obsessed with beauty. I want everything to be perfect, and of course it isn't. And that's a tough place to be because you're never satisfied.
