In an artwork you're always looking for artistic decisions, so an ashtray is perfect. An ashtray has got life and death. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Buy art, build a museum, put your name on it, let people in for free. That's as close as you can get… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
So smoking is the perfect way to commit suicide without actually dying. I smoke because it's bad, it's really simple. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
The difference between art about death and actual death is that one's a celebration and the other's a dull fact. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Immortality is really desirable, I guess. In terms of images, anyway. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Since I was a child, death is definitely something that I think about every day. But I think that everybody does. You… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I definitely think about death. And every day your relationship with death changes. And every day I sort of feel like I… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Death's just something that inspires me, not something that pulls me down. I used to get called morbid at school. I have… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Art is the closest you can get to immortality, though it's a poor substitute - you're working for people not yet born… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I always look at money not as a motivating factor but as an element in the composition. You can't ignore it, but you've got… — Damien Hirst Copy Share
Art goes on in your head. If you said something interesting, that might be a title for a work of art and I'd write… — Damien Hirst Copy Share
Even as a kid in drawing class, I had real ambition. I wanted to be the best in the class, but there was always… — Damien Hirst Copy Share
Since I was a child, death is definitely something that I think about every day. But I think that everybody does. You try and… — Damien Hirst Copy Share
But I think it's more that when you're young, you're invincible, you're immortal - or at least you think you are. The possibilities are… — Damien Hirst Copy Share
Museums are for dead artists. I'd never show my work in the Tate. You'd never get me in that place. — Damien Hirst Copy Share
No, I don't believe in genius. I believe in freedom. I think anyone can do it. Anyone can be like Rembrandt. — Damien Hirst Copy Share
I did a butterfly show in Berlin, and we had a guy who's an expert on butterflies; who bred them all and who looks… — Damien Hirst Copy Share
If the choice is between buying another building or a Pollock, I'd go for the Pollock every time. — Damien Hirst Copy Share
Picasso, Michelangelo, possibly, might be verging on genius, but I don't think a painter like Rembrandt is a genius. — Damien Hirst Copy Share
Making art, good art, is always a struggle. It can make you happy when you pull it off. There's no better feeling. It's beauteous.… — Damien Hirst Copy Share
So smoking is the perfect way to commit suicide without actually dying. I smoke because it's bad, it's really simple. — Damien Hirst Copy Share
