I think the difference between me and some of the other YBAs [Young British Artists] was that I was ambitious for the work, and not ambitious for myself.

I don't want to make plop art — sculpture that just gets plopped down in places. I wouldn't want to litter every corner of the world with my sculpture.

When I visited concentration camps, I was more interested in how people responded to the camps than in the actual places. I watched kids picnicking on the ovens and other people stricken with grief.

To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.

In two years, there were 22 military coups d'etat, essentially in Africa and the third world. The coup d'etat of Algiers, in 1965, is what opened the path.

I think it's tacky to have chains that go all the way down to your crotch.

Everyone thinks I'm a wimp and even my own band hates me. Oh, well. I guess I'll just flip 'em the bird!

Thou shall know by experience how salt the savor is of others' bread, and how sad a path it is to climb and descend another's stairs.

I have work to do as a human being.

Brigands will demand your money or your life, but a woman will demand both

We sometimes need to create unreal monsters and bogies to stand in for all the things we fear in our real lives.

We become what we pay attention to.

I actually think one of most profoundly and deep pastoral moments between a pastor and his church is what happens between them before God in the context of preaching.