David bailey quotes

To get rich, you have to be making money while you're asleep.

I was dyslexic, so I was put in the silly class at school.

Sometimes I still can't believe my luck.

I never tried to revolutionise photography; I just do what I do and keep my fingers crossed that people will like it.

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.

I was a terrible father. The most I ever did for my children was to teach them chess. At least they got that.

The reason I did fashion was it was the only way to get paid to do anything creative. You couldn't support yourself as an 'artist' - I hate that word. The only way you could be 'arty' was as a fashion photographer, because it still had a certain amount of integrity involved.

When I die I want to go to Vogue.

You adapt to who you're photographing.

I left school on my 15th birthday.

Fashion often starts off beautiful and becomes ugly, whereas art starts off ugly sometimes and becomes beautiful.

London changes because of money. It's real estate. If they can build some offices or expensive apartments they will, it's money that changes everything in a city.

It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.

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

I didn't try and do fashion pictures. I tried to do portraits of girls wearing dresses.

The only thing approaching art in a movie is the script.

My first influence obviously was Picasso.

It's only a few nutcases who do art for themselves, like Van Gogh.

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

The only thing they can't teach you at art school is art.

In France they don't think I'm difficult.

Being handsome wasn't much of a burden. It worked for me.

I love learning new techniques.

I like change. There's something Buddhist about it - continuous change is wonderful.

If you're curious, London's an amazing place.

Girls are more attractive to me than dresses.

I never set out to be a photographer.

I hate being so nostalgic about the Sixties.

I was surrounded by strong women so it had never even occurred to me that women were anything other than equal to men.

I'm never shocked, I'm not the shockable type!

Journalists never make it clear when you are joking.

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

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.

The skull is nature's sculpture.

My paintings are rubbish.

I was ten when I got my first serious beating. It was rough.

Fortunately I didn't get educated because if I'd got educated I'd be an educated fool now.

Being dyslexic, I was told that I was an idiot all the time.

You can't really copy what I do because I don't do anything.

I never cared for fashion much, amusing little seams and witty little pleats: it was the girls I liked.

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.

I didn't know a time when there wasn't a war because I spent all my time from the age of two or three to eight in a coal cellar really.

Rather than knowing more, I think I've got more open-minded.

I had a terrible time with feminists in the Seventies. They hated me, those women. I think they hated everything.

The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading.

I'm not really one for regrets.

I don't feel very optimistic in London.

In '73 I photographed the cannibals in New Guinea. They treated me OK but they didn't make you feel relaxed... I managed to escape unscathed though, I'm pretty good at that.

I don't think my work does reflect my nationality - I don't like the idea of nationalism.

I've been used by women all my life, fortunately.

Being trendy is dangerous. I've never been trendy, which is why I've never really fallen out of favour.

My friends are all megalomaniacs - from Damien Hirst to Jack Nicholson - all of them.

All I could do at school was paint and draw and that was the only time I ever passed any exam. It was the only thing I ever got right at school.

Anybody can be a great photographer if they zoom in enough on what they love.

You have to kind of be invisible when you photograph children, so you use a longer lens.

I always go for simplicity.

The Sixties was a time of breaking down class barriers, although I think class still exists today in some areas.

I hate men who are in touch with their feminine side.

I know everything should be photographed. It helps me make sense of my existence.

I've always been a bit flip.

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

Rockers are the nicest people to photograph. They have no inhibitions.

A positive attitude can really make dreams come true - it did for me.

It is a sign of a dull nature to occupy oneself deeply in matters that concern the body; for instance, to be over much occupied about exercise, about eating and drinking, about easing oneself, about sexual intercourse.

People want security in this insecure world.

All pictures are unnatural. All pictures are sad because they're about dead people. Paintings you don't think of in a special time or with a specific event. With photos I always think I'm looking at something dead.