Quotes By David Hockney

It's very British to go about to see something unusual and paint it.

Who would have thought that the telephone would bring back drawing?

When you stop doing something, it doesn't mean you are rejecting the previous work. That's the mistake; it's not rejecting it, it's saying, 'I have exploited it enough now and I wish to take a look at another corner.'

There are enough no smoking places now.

Well you can't teach the poetry, but you can teach the craft.

I generally only paint people I know, I'm not a flatterer really.

I grew up in austerity in the 1940s and 1950s.

Art has to move you and design does not, unless it's a good design for a bus.

Like people, trees are all individuals.

On the iPhone I tended to draw with my thumb. Whereas the moment I got to the iPad, I found myself using every finger.

I've always wanted to be able to paint the dawn.

In my old age, I'll be in L.A.

Laugh a lot. It clears the lungs.

Yes, I did, I mean I painted er, in a kind of abstract expressionist way, because of course that was exciting.

It is very good advice to believe only what an artist does, rather than what he says about his work.

I haven't stopped painting or drawing - I've just added another medium.

I'm a very early riser, and I don't like to miss that beautiful early morning light.

It's time to debate images, especially when someone's going to prison for downloading them.

Photographs aren't accounts of scrutiny. The shutter is open for a fraction of a second.

I don't value prizes of any sort.

Of course you can still paint landscape - it's not been worn out.

I'm always excited by the unlikely, never by ordinary things.

I see the iPad as a wonderful new drawing medium, but I am at a loss as to how to make it pay.

You had to be aware that I saw that photography was a mere episode in the history of the optical projection and when the chemicals ended, meaning the picture was fixed by chemicals, we were in a new era.

The photograph isn't good enough. It's not real enough.

Shadows sometimes people don't see shadows. The Chinese of course never paint them in pictures, oriental art never deals with shadow. But I noticed these shadows and I knew it meant it was sunny.

All painters are interested in photography to a certain extent.

I avoid the public because the English public is too aggressive these days for me.

And then I went round the corner and there's a Van Gogh portrait, and you just think, well, this is another level. A higher level, actually. I love the Sargent, but it's not the level of Van Gogh.

I draw flowers every day and send them to my friends so they get fresh blooms every morning.