A contemporary painting is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it and not a predetermined figure.

Art thrives on society and society thrives on its art.

I love isolation. It's very important for me to have time and space to myself when I can sit and read or write as well as paint. It's all part of the process.

Some sitters don't engage with the process of having their portrait painted at all. They'll think it's a good opportunity to catch up with all their phone calls.

It's important to start off with ideals, even if they become modified at some later stage.

I benefit from contemplation, but it's a great antidote to that, having someone interesting come into the studio environment to be painted, so that I can experience a little bit of their world.

It is intensely frustrating to be misquoted.

I'm not some kind of machine that paints pictures.

One of my principal concerns is the contradiction between appearance and reality - illusion and reality. I try to set up an expectation of sorts and then contradict it.

One of the big failings of art schools is that students aren't given any teaching on how to survive as a one-person business, which is what it is.

[S]omehow, without his being aware of it, time had coated his awe with a rind of disillusionment, and the wine of wonder had turned to vinegar.

It's hard to sleep when you have thirty two million quids worth of stolen jewellery hidden under the mattress.

Your lifestyle should show some form of responsibility for the nation where you were born and/or the nation where you live

I think my main concern is because I worry about demagoguery. It's real. You see the people standing up there and applauding.

Ignorance isn't bliss, but sometimes ignorance makes it possible for us to sleep at night.

by and by, the cause of my disease Gives me a pang that inwardly doth sting, When that I think what grief it is again To live and lack the thing should rid my pain.

My life has not been predictable. I never would have imagined I'd be living where I'm living, doing what I'm doing or married to an American guy. I'm interested to see what will happen next!

No true search for enlightenment ignores the suffering of other sentient beings. Ever. We simply need to create a way to address that suffering while remaining in a blissful center.

Our way of life, our government defines the way America is. I mean, it's not luck.

If I have to tell a guy he's got something to do, I consider myself a failure as a manager.