Robert Mapplethorpe

Beauty and the devil are the same thing.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

I'm not a photojournalist.

I wish I could be elegant.

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

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

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

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

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

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