David Bailey

Botticelli would have made a very good fashion photographer. He did eight heads instead of seven heads in a body, which is fashion illustration.

I won't do advertising if they bring a layout and say, 'This is what we want to do,' because anybody can do that; it's not interesting. They've got digital and the computer; it's not taking pictures, it's not magic - it's a picture done by committee.

Kate Moss is the best thing since Jean Shrimpton, really.

Good shoes are important. I wear English brogues in a wide fitting. They last me years.

I don't really like the term 'artist.' I'm not sure what it means. It's a bit like 'love.'

I think about death all the time. I know there's nothing out there, but I'm curious. There's a 300 billion-to-one chance that there might be an energy that goes somewhere else, but I doubt it.

There's nothing wrong with being a fashion photographer, but it's a bit limited.

It always amazes me when people ask you to do something and then tell you how to do it.

I didn't know I was going to live for 50 years. It has come as a shock.

I don't like any sport except boxing and bull fighting.

Actors are hard to photograph because they never want to reveal who they are. You don't know if you're getting a character from a Chekhov play or a Polanski film. It depends what mood they're in.

I'm not really one for regrets.

The earth has a life of its own.

I don't think global warming is to do with us, I think it's a natural circle. I don't think a few Ferraris make that much difference.

The trouble with people like Tony Blair is they get confused, they think intelligence is education when they're two different things.

My paintings are rubbish.

I am not responsible for all the journalists in the past that have told lies.

Girls are more attractive to me than dresses.

I don't see the point of photographing trees or rocks because they're there and anyone can photograph them if they're prepared to hang around and wait for the light.

In a way, a man's body is more beautiful than a woman's.