Robert Mapplethorpe

Happiness? No, it's not there for me.

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.

I wish I could be elegant.

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.

I would never have done what I'd done if I'd considered my father as somebody I wanted to please.

I don't know why my pictures come out looking so good. I just don't get it.

I don't think any collector knows his true motivation.

If I have to change my lifestyle, I don't want to live.

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 always thought I was good. That's why it was so frustrating when other people didn't agree.

Beauty and the devil are the same thing.

I don't believe in dogmas and theologies. I just believe in being a good person.

Just because I was out at the bars all the time didn't mean I wasn't looking for someone to love.

I played around with the flowers and the lighting, so that was a good way to educate myself.

I'm looking for the unexpected. I'm looking for things I've never seen before.

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.

My father wants me to be like my brother, but I can't be.

I can't have just anybody assisting me, I need somebody who I can really communicate with.

You're never going to get anywhere in life if you don't live up to your obligations.

I recorded that because it happened to me. I wasn't making a point.

I'm not photographing anything naked these days. I haven't been concentrating on bodies recently.

One must ease the public into it - that's an art in itself.

I am selfish, but that's an attribute that all artists possess.

When I work, and in my art, I hold hands with God.

Whenever you make love to someone, there should be three people involved - you, the other person, and the devil.

I'm not a photojournalist.

I just hope I can live long enough to see the fame.

People don't have time to wait for somebody to paint their portraits anymore. The money is in photography.

This AIDS stuff is pretty scary. I hope I don't get it.

Sell the public flowers... things that they can hang on their walls without being uptight.

With photography, you zero in; you put a lot of energy into short moments, and then you go on to the next thing.

My theory about creativity is that the more money one has, the more creative one can be.

To make pictures big is to make them more powerful.

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.

I just try to live my life and do my thing.

The more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer.

My lifestyle is bizarre, but the only thing you need to know is where the darkroom is.

I've never lied. I think I've lived a moral life.

I should try to get some sleep as one doesn't know what tomorrow may bring.

I went into photography because it seemed like the perfect vehicle for commenting on the madness of today's existence.