Quotes By Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
I remember when you used to have your profession on your passport and I always thought that being a painter was the best one to be, because my heroes were Goya and Francis Bacon.
Damien Hirst
The difference between art about death and actual death is that one's a celebration and the other's a dull fact.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
Painting is so poetic, while sculpture is more logical and scientific and makes you worry about gravity.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
I used to believe I was going to live forever. And then you suddenly become aware that you're not.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
Great art - or good art - is when you look at it, experience it and it stays in your mind. I don't think conceptual art and traditional art are all that different.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
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?
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst
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.
Damien Hirst