You can’t really copy what I do because I don’t do anything.

I did painting before I did photography.

I suppose because my work was so popular people didn’t really look at it.

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...

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.

John Parsons, the gay art director at ‘Vogue,’ really started my career.

In a way, a man’s body is more beautiful than a woman’s.

I was surrounded by strong women so it had never even occurred to me that women were anything other than equal to men.

It is a sign of a dull nature to occupy oneself deeply in matters that concern the body; for instance, to be over much occupied about exercise, about eating and drinking, about easing oneself, about...

I don’t do proud.

I won’t do advertising if they bring a layout and say, ‘This is what we want to do,’ because anybody can do that; it’s not interesting. They’ve got digital and the computer; it’s not taking...

All pictures are unnatural. All pictures are sad because they’re about dead people. Paintings you don’t think of in a special time or with a specific event. With photos I always think I’m looking at...

I didn’t know a time when there wasn’t a war because I spent all my time from the age of two or three to eight in a coal cellar really.

I used to love the ’20s.

A positive attitude can really make dreams come true – it did for me.

People want security in this insecure world.

Journalists never make it clear when you are joking.

My first influence obviously was Picasso.

All I could do at school was paint and draw and that was the only time I ever passed any exam. It was the only thing I ever got right at school.

I don’t like any sport except boxing and bull fighting.

I don’t feel very optimistic in London.

I think about death all the time. I know there’s nothing out there, but I’m curious. There’s a 300 billion-to-one chance that there might be an energy that goes somewhere else, but I doubt it.

Being trendy is dangerous. I’ve never been trendy, which is why I’ve never really fallen out of favour.

I didn’t know I was going to live for 50 years. It has come as a shock.

I was ten when I got my first serious beating. It was rough.

To get rich, you have to be making money while you’re asleep.

I am mad about my wife.

Kate Moss is the best thing since Jean Shrimpton, really.

Nothing wrong with retouching – nothing new about retouching.

Fashion often starts off beautiful and becomes ugly, whereas art starts off ugly sometimes and becomes beautiful.

I’m not really one for regrets.

I don’t really like the term ‘artist.’ I’m not sure what it means. It’s a bit like ‘love.’

The reason I did fashion was it was the only way to get paid to do anything creative. You couldn’t support yourself as an ‘artist’ – I hate that word. The only way you could...

I don’t think global warming is to do with us, I think it’s a natural circle. I don’t think a few Ferraris make that much difference.

I love learning new techniques.

I’m an image-maker.

Anybody can be a great photographer if they zoom in enough on what they love.

I was dyslexic, so I was put in the silly class at school.

My exploits are nothing now to the average person.

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

The skull is nature’s sculpture.

Rather than knowing more, I think I’ve got more open-minded.

I don’t think it matters where I came from any more.

When I stop working, I go out and start working again. Most people paint a picture, or whatever they do, and go home. For me, it has to be continuous.

I know everything should be photographed. It helps me make sense of my existence.

I love people for giving me their time. It’s a privilege – I make the most of it.

I’m not a philosopher, I’m just a simple boy from East Ham.

Being handsome wasn’t much of a burden. It worked for me.

Fortunately I didn’t get educated because if I’d got educated I’d be an educated fool now.

My father was a tailor, my mother a machinist.