Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I might be old, but I'm still desirable.
Self-pity is the most destructive of all narcotics.
The motivation of all artists is 'Look at me, Mum'.
I regret everything. But so what? At least I have cause.
The problem with compassion is that it is not photogenic.
Why shouldn't I be allowed to say stupid, outrageous things?
People who have a reputation for being evil are usually good.
If I hear that people are litigious, I immediately dismiss them.
[…] life is just the misery left between abortion and euthanasia […]
I consider myself to be very correct and proper: an upright citizen.
The function of music is to release us from the boredom of existence.
Unhappiness lies in that gap between our talents and our expectations.
To be worthy of assassination takes more than some crappy little book.
But really death seems the least awful thing that can happen to someone
I like to remind myself that every morning I'm making a choice to live.
I have wanted only one thing to make me happy. That thing is everything.
My one concession to American sensibilities was to remove my nail polish.
I live my life like an open book, even though it's open on the wrong page.
I can count all the lovers I've had on one hand...if I'm holding a calculator.
A woman is supposed to have curves like an old Bentley, not like some old bike.
I don't talk, I quote. I can't help it. It's better to be quotable than honest.
I am half-Byronic, half-moronic; part-shaman, part-showman; half-Nazi, half-Liberace.
Think of how many boring, blameless lives are brightened by the blazing indiscretion of me.
I think you are born, and I think you die. I have a pragmatic nature, but I yearn to believe.
Dandyism is a lie which reveals the truth, and the truth is that we are what we pretend to be.
The universe is neither friendly nor hostile. It is merely indifferent. This makes me ecstatic.
People are obsessed by happiness, but there are a lot of other invigorating experiences available.
Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which psychoanalysis is powerless to bestow.
We build our character as a carapace to keep away the fear of the abyss. That's what our character is for.
I do a lot of things for effect, which is not to say I am superficial, but that I know how to put ideas across.
Being a dandy is a condition rather than a profession. It is a defense against suffering and a celebration of life.
I don't think I'm known for my gifts - I'm known for my gall. I don't want to be just a famous person - I'm too old.
I used to have about a hundred suits in my late twenties and early thirties when my stock was riding high and I was rich.
I like fat girls. A woman can never be too poor or too fat. I'd take a poor fat girl over a rich thin girl like Kate Moss.
My grandfather was a practising Quaker. My father was a nihilist. But nihilism, if you like, is the beginning of faith anyway.
If someone thinks I'm posh, it just shows how lowly they are. Some people think I went to Eton. I'm far too stupid to get into Eton.
Pain can be vitalising; it gives intensity in the place of vagueness and emptiness. If we don't suffer, how do we know that we live?
An artist has to go to every extreme, to stretch his sensibility through excess and suffering in order to feel and to communicate more.
I am not an intellectual. An intellectual is someone who looks at a sausage and thinks of Picasso, whereas I just say 'pass the mustard'.
It's really interesting because 50 years ago, if you didn't wear a hat everyone looked at you. It just proves that everything is fashion.
If I want to dislike women, I should be allowed to. As it happens, I love them. Women to me are privately worshipped and publicly disdained.
The problem I've got is that I really, really like drugs. I love everything about them. It is horrific being sober all the time-utterly awful.
I like living sparsely. In the main room, there's no furniture - no tables, no chairs, no coffee table - not even a decaffeinated coffee table.
Getting old is horrible, but it is interesting . . . one of the things I've realized is that growing old is compulsory, but growing up is optional.
People either hate me or dislike me - but I realized that people aren't against you, they are for themselves. We're all prejudiced in favor of ourselves.
I am desperate for attention. But everyone else is too. Everyone has fantasies of fame and greatness. Life for most people is a process of shedding those fantasies.
I am a fraud. I have cobbled together my personality from hundreds of little bits. I am simultaneously the most genuine and the most artificial person you will ever meet.
One of the many troubles of growing older is that it gets progressively harder to find a famous historical figure who hadn't yet amounted to anything by the time he was your age.
My theory is that the way you cope with the depths will ascertain the heights that you reach - they are intimately connected - and if you have a lust for life, you are also going to have a lust for death.
I keep the shutters closed because I like to work in a hermetic environment. I like mirrors. When you look out of the window, all you see is ugliness, but when you look in the mirror all you see is beauty.