Robert Mapplethorpe Quotes

Beauty and the devil are the same thing.

To make pictures big is to make them more powerful.

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

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

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.

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 don't like that particular word 'shocking.' I'm looking for the unexpected. I'm looking for things I've never seen before … I was in a position to take those pictures. I felt an obligation to do them.

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

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.

I don't think that there's that much difference between a photograph of a fist up someone's ass and a photograph of carnations in a bowl.

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

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

If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it's as though I've neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up.

I never liked photography. Not for the sake of photography. I like the object. I like the photographs when you hold them in your hand.

I like to look at pictures, all kinds. And all those things you absorb come out subconsciously one way or another. You'll be taking photographs and suddenly know that you have resources from having looked at a lot of them before. There is no way you can avoid this. But this kind of subconscious influence is good, and it certainly can work for one. In fact, the more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer.

I come from suburban America. It was a very safe environment and it was a good place to come from in that it was a good place to leave.

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

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

My work is about seeing - seeing things like they haven't been seen before.

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

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

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

If I had been born one or two hundred years ago, I might have been a sculptor, but photography is a very quick way to see, to make sculpture.

You're never going to get anywhere in life if you don't live up to your obligations.

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

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

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

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

I don't use recreational drugs, except for cocaine, hallucinogens, and nitrates.

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

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.

If I have to change my lifestyle, I don't want to live.

I want to see something I've never seen before.

I was a Catholic boy, I went to church every Sunday. A church has a certain magic and mystery for a child. It still shows in how I arrange things. It's always little altars.

Just because I was out at the bars all the time didn't mean I wasn't looking for someone to love.

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

When I’m behind a camera I forget I exist.

I think that it was a great advantage to go into photography not knowing much about it. Not thinking. I think one of the problems with many photographers today is that they never see for themselves, but just like everybody else.

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.

My father wants me to be like my brother, but I can't be.

People have done pornographic pictures forever, but most of the people who involve themselves in explicit sexuality aren't really artists.

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

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

I don't think any collector knows his true motivation.

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

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

This AIDS stuff is pretty scary. I hope I don't get it.

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

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