Damien Hirst

I always feel like the art's there and I just see it, so it's not really a lot of work.

For me, art is always a kind of theater. When I started the spot paintings, I made them as an endless series. But I was never serious about it being an endless series. It was just an implied endless series. The theater means you just have to make it look good for that moment in the spotlight.

Artists are like everybody else.

I think I've always been afraid of painting, really. Right from the beginning. All my paintings are about painting without a painter. Like a kind of mechanical form of painting.

A painting probably is the most shocking increase in value, from what it costs to make to what you sell it for.

But I think it's more that when you're young, you're invincible, you're immortal - or at least you think you are. The possibilities are limitless, you're inventing the future. Then you get older and suddenly you have a history. It's fixed. You can't change anything. I find that a bit disturbing, to be honest.

Being best is a false goal, you have to measure success on your own terms

For me, art is always a kind of theater.

I always ignore money.

In an artwork you're always looking for artistic decisions, so an ashtray is perfect. An ashtray has got life and death.

Immortality is really desirable, I guess. In terms of images, anyway.

But I'm more interested in why people are frightened by Jaws and why Jaws was such a hit than saying Spielberg's my main influence.

So smoking is the perfect way to commit suicide without actually dying. I smoke because it's bad, it's really simple.

The idea of going on tour for the rest of my life with old works is not that exciting. As an artist I definitely think the work in future is going to be better than the work in the past, otherwise why do it?

I used to believe I was going to live forever. And then you suddenly become aware that you're not.

It's such a crass idea - you're either in love or out of love.

Painting is so poetic, while sculpture is more logical and scientific and makes you worry about gravity.

Picasso, Michelangelo, possibly, might be verging on genius, but I don't think a painter like Rembrandt is a genius.

It's amazing what you can do with an E in A-Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw.

I think suicide is the most perfect thing you can do in life.

The difference between art about death and actual death is that one's a celebration and the other's a dull fact.

People always say that my work is sensational or shocking but there are truly shocking things you could do, and my sculptures don't go anywhere near that.

As a father, I would say I am more like a mother. I do a lot of hugging.

Most people live in the city and go to the country at the weekend, and that's posh and aristocratic, but actually to live in the country and come to London when you can't take it any more is different.

Making art, good art, is always a struggle. It can make you happy when you pull it off. There's no better feeling. It's beauteous. But it's always about hard work and inspiration and sweat and good ideas.

Sometimes when you're drunk you can see better.

I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're trying not to look at it is stupid because looking at death throws us back into life with more vigour and energy. The fact that flowers don't last for ever makes them beautiful.

I'm 43. I'm not ready to sit down in a chair with my name on it yet.

You need a big ego to be an artist.

I think an ashtray is the most fantastically real thing.

But whenever I look at the question of how to live, the answer's always staring me in the face. I'm already doing it.

I always feel a bit trapped when a painting goes for millions of pounds and only one person can have it. If you can have that as well as a poster on every student's wall, then you're in a very enviable position. I'd like to do a Damien Hirst for £500 at some point.

'Painting like a child' isn't a negative for me... it's something only great artists can really achieve. The childlike quality of some of Picasso's drawings is precisely what makes them so masterful and extraordinary; the ability to express complete visions, feelings and portraits through a continuous line.

No, I don't believe in genius. I believe in freedom. I think anyone can do it. Anyone can be like Rembrandt.

I think art is good at looking back and looking forward. I don't think art is good at looking head-on. At the end of the day, people are more important than paintings.

My Mum brought me up to believe that if you look after the pennies then the pounds look after themselves, and I could never do it.

The goal in life is to be solid, whereas the way that life works is totally fluid, so you can never actually achieve that goal.

It'd be nice to make lots of money but it's quite difficult, because every time I make lots of money I make a bigger piece that costs lots of money.

When it comes to the British monarchy, I prefer to be seduced by an image than presented with a real person. It's kind of a Warhol thing.

Museums are for dead artists. I'd never show my work in the Tate. You'd never get me in that place.

Kids are naturally gifted at art from a very young age. The problem is when they get older and become self-conscious. The process should always be fun, though.

I made one untitled piece.

I've been asked to do a retrospective since I was about 28 and I always thought that was a bit odd. It's great to look forward as an artist because in the future the possibilities are infinite; you look back and it's all fixed so it's a scary thing.

I think I like big issues, but I don't believe in God or religion.

Being best is a false goal, you have to measure success on your own terms.

Whenever I've been well-known or hitting the press, I've always had to get my credit card out to prove I'm Damien Hirst.

Sometimes when youre drunk you can see better.

There's no possible way you can get what you want.

I was brought up Catholic, and I felt the power of art from a very young age - seeing the brutality of all those images of flayed apostles and tortured saints was a pretty strong introduction.

But the answer to how to live is to stop thinking about it. And just to live. But you're doing that anyway. However you intellectualise it, you still just live.

A lot of people thought I wasn't doing anything because I was spending a lot of time socialising and going out, but I've always managed to get work actually done.

I have always been aware that you have to get people listening before you can change their minds. Any artist's big fear is being ignored, so if you get debate, that's great.

It's good to have a title that's not just one word. If you're gonna title it, you might as well try and say something.

I realised that you couldn't use the tools of yesterday to communicate today's world. Basically, that was the big light that went on in my head.