DAVID HOCKNEY

Of course you can still paint landscape - it's not been worn out.

As you get older, it gets a bit harder to keep the spontaneity in you, but I work at it.

The moment you cheat for the sake of beauty, you know you're an artist.

Being able to draw means being able to put things in believable space. People who don't draw very well can't do that.

And then I went round the corner and there's a Van Gogh portrait, and you just think, well, this is another level. A higher level, actually. I love the Sargent, but it's not the level of Van Gogh.

Spring is very energising to me.

Well you can't teach the poetry, but you can teach the craft.

I'm fed up with being bossed around.

Easel painting means small painting.

When you stop doing something, it doesn't mean you are rejecting the previous work. That's the mistake; it's not rejecting it, it's saying, 'I have exploited it enough now and I wish to take a look at another corner.'

I actually think the deafness makes you see clearer. If you can't hear, you somehow see.

The moment rules over everything.

The photograph isn't good enough. It's not real enough.

I generally only paint people I know, I'm not a flatterer really.

Enjoyment of the landscape is a thrill.

It's no good saying I wished I could go out more, because I can't. But I don't bother about it too much.

All film directors, even the ones using 3-D today, want you to look at what they chose.

I'm not going to stop painting just to take orders.

I'm a very early riser, and I don't like to miss that beautiful early morning light.

All painters are interested in photography to a certain extent.

We live in an age where the artist is forgotten. He is a researcher. I see myself that way.

I don't value prizes of any sort.

I think I am seeing more clearly now than ever.

Ultimately, I'm about liberty and I think you have to defend it.

I live wherever I happen to be.