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.

The earth has a life of its own.

When I die I want to go to Vogue.

The only thing approaching art in a movie is the script.

I guess I’m the last of the Cockneys.

I’ve always been a bit flip.

I never set out to be a photographer.

I’m not mad about movies, there are too many people involved in the making of them, and they lack a definitive creative focus.

If you’re curious, London’s an amazing place.

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

My friends are all megalomaniacs – from Damien Hirst to Jack Nicholson – all of them.

There’s nothing wrong with being a fashion photographer, but it’s a bit limited.

I didn’t try and do fashion pictures. I tried to do portraits of girls wearing dresses.

The Sixties was a time of breaking down class barriers, although I think class still exists today in some areas.

I had a terrible time with feminists in the Seventies. They hated me, those women. I think they hated everything.

I don’t think my work does reflect my nationality – I don’t like the idea of nationalism.