Top 112 Quotes by David Hockney

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.

I'm a bit claustrophobic, I don't like crowds, I live by the sea - that's what I see when I come out of my house in Bridlington.

I grew up in austerity in the 1940s and 1950s.

I went to art school actually when I was sixteen years old.

Who's going to ask a painter to see a diploma? They'd say, 'Can I see your paintings?', wouldn't they?

In fact, most artists want to make things a bit more difficult for themselves as they go along, to challenge themselves.

Most artists work all the time, they do actually, especially good artists, they work all the time, what else is there to do? I mean you do.

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

I'm a natural sceptic.

I've realized that I can do performances.