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Robert Mapplethorpe

Quotes

Robert Mapplethorpe

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

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