David Hockney Quotes

I love the countryside, which is where I live and feel most comfortable, and hate being surrounded by herds of people.

I'm not fond of crowds. I'm no jittery neurotic, but I don't really want to be surrounded by a lot of people if I have a choice.

I don't like being in houses alone.

My life style in a sense is kind of private.

I would get a lot of writing done if I lived in isolation in a cave under a swamp.

I would be happy living on a massive ranch in Montana and not seeing anyone except my friends and family.

In my 30s, I wrote in the back house of a ramshackle Spanish Revival we rented across from the ocean in the Santa Monica Canyon. I wrote thousands of pages there, but in order to see another adult human being, I had to steal out through the brambly side of the house, along the driveway down to the street.

I've got to be by trees, otherwise I get claustrophobic.

I hardly even leave my own house.

I live way out in the country, in truck-country.

I rent houses in LA when I'm filming. I find the isolation there terrifying. There's nowhere to go, there's nowhere to be with people. I'm not a beach bunny.

I enjoy a four-seasonal climate and wide-open spaces, so being on an island 2,500 miles into the South Pacific made me feel a little claustrophobic.

I won't go to places where you're going to find more attention. I go to the opposite.

I barely leave my cage, my house.

I don't feel the breath of a thousand people over my shoulder.

After 23 years closeted at Westminster, where often all you can see out of the windows are other parliamentary buildings, I appreciate space, and I retired to Dartmoor to find it.

In California, you can stretch your arms out and not be touching another person. You get space, sun and, in general, dignity.

Cornwall is my favourite place - I wish I could earn a living there.

I like writing in total isolation like out in the woods somewhere.

Sometimes I just need to be out in nature. It's amazing how much I need time on my own.

I grew up in the countryside, in literally the middle of nowhere. We had one neighbor and a lot of sheep.

I grew up in the countryside.

I don't want to die. The last thing I want to do is go in a wrestling ring with a bunch of people watching. I'd rather it be somewhere high up on a mountain. I don't need any fans there for that.

There is nothing like the bootless solitude of those who are caged together.

If I'm alone at home, I get increasingly restless, bothered by the idea that I'm missing some crucial encounter out there somewhere. But if I'm left by myself in someone else's place, I often find myself a nice sense of peace engulfing me. I love sinking into an unfamiliar sofa with whatever book happens to be lying nearby.