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" Even as a kid in drawing class, I had real ambition. I wanted to be the best in the class, but there was always some other feller who was better; so I thought, 'It can't be about being the best, it has to be about the drawing itself, what you do with it.' That's kind of stuck with me. "

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" My Mum brought me up to believe that if you look after the pennies then the pounds look after themselves, and I could never do it. "

Damien Hirst

You

Believe

" I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're trying not to look at it is stupid because looking at death throws us back into life with more vigour and energy. The fact that flowers don't last for ever makes them beautiful. "

" Sometimes when you're drunk you can see better. "

" I have always been aware that you have to get people listening before you can change their minds. Any artist's big fear is being ignored, so if you get debate, that's great. "

" I was brought up Catholic, and I felt the power of art from a very young age - seeing the brutality of all those images of flayed apostles and tortured saints was a pretty strong introduction. "

" 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. But it's always about hard work and inspiration and sweat and good ideas. "

" 'Painting like a child' isn't a negative for me... it's something only great artists can really achieve. The childlike quality of some of Picasso's drawings is precisely what makes them so masterful and extraordinary; the ability to express complete visions, feelings and portraits through a continuous line. "

" I think suicide is the most perfect thing you can do in life. "

" I used to believe I was going to live forever. And then you suddenly become aware that you're not. "

" Great art - or good art - is when you look at it, experience it and it stays in your mind. I don't think conceptual art and traditional art are all that different. "

" Kids are naturally gifted at art from a very young age. The problem is when they get older and become self-conscious. The process should always be fun, though. "

" Painting is so poetic, while sculpture is more logical and scientific and makes you worry about gravity. "

" I've had laser eye surgery and I don't wear glasses any more, so people just go, 'You're not Damien Hirst.' I don't get recognized on the street. "

Damien Hirst

Glasses

Eye

" 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 limitless, you're inventing the future. Then you get older and suddenly you have a history. It's fixed. You can't change anything. I find that a bit disturbing, to be honest. "

" But whenever I look at the question of how to live, the answer's always staring me in the face. I'm already doing it. "

" The goal in life is to be solid, whereas the way that life works is totally fluid, so you can never actually achieve that goal. "

" I remember when you used to have your profession on your passport and I always thought that being a painter was the best one to be, because my heroes were Goya and Francis Bacon. "

" In an artwork you're always looking for artistic decisions, so an ashtray is perfect. An ashtray has got life and death. "

" People don't like contemporary art, but all art starts life as contemporary - I can't really see a difference. "

Damien Hirst

People

Life

" No, I don't believe in genius. I believe in freedom. I think anyone can do it. Anyone can be like Rembrandt. "

Damien Hirst

Freedom

Think

" I think an ashtray is the most fantastically real thing. "

" It's amazing what you can do with an E in A-Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw. "

" Artists are like everybody else. "

" I gave up painting by 16. I secretly thought I would have been Rembrandt by then. "

Damien Hirst

Painting

Gave