Robert Mapplethorpe Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

People don`t have time to wait for somebody to paint their portraits anymore. The money is in photography.

I can`t have just anybody assisting me, I need somebody who I can really communicate with.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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.

This AIDS stuff is pretty scary. I hope I don`t get it.

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.

I don`t know why my pictures come out looking so good. I just don`t get it.

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

I`m not a photojournalist.

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

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

Beauty and the devil are the same thing.

I just want to be written about as a normal artist.

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.

Just because I was out at the bars all the time didn`t mean I wasn`t looking for someone to love.

I don`t think any collector knows his true motivation.

Whether it`s an orgy or a cocktail party, I know how to do it.

I wish I could be elegant.

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

I recorded that because it happened to me. I wasn`t making a point.

The photographs that are art have to be separated from the rest - then preserved.

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

My father wants me to be like my brother, but I can`t be.

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

I don`t believe in dogmas and theologies. I just believe in being a good person.

If I have to change my lifestyle, I don`t want to live.

I should try to get some sleep as one doesn`t know what tomorrow may bring.

I don`t use recreational drugs, except for cocaine, hallucinogens, and nitrates.

I always thought I was good. That`s why it was so frustrating when other people didn`t agree.

The best picture I got was Bianca Jagger whispering in Mick`s ear. I caught them telling a secret, which is sort of rude.

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

I see things like they`ve never been seen before. Art is an accurate statement of the time in which it is made.