Best 50 quotes of David Bailey on MyQuotes

All I could do at school was paint and draw and that was the only time I ever passed any exam. It was the only thing I ever got right at school.

All pictures are unnatural. All pictures are sad because they're about dead people. Paintings you don't think of in a special time or with a specific event. With photos I always think I'm looking at something dead.

Anybody can be a great photographer if they zoom in enough on what they love.

A positive attitude can really make dreams come true - it did for me.

Being dyslexic, I was told that I was an idiot all the time.

Being handsome wasn't much of a burden. It worked for me.

Being trendy is dangerous. I've never been trendy, which is why I've never really fallen out of favour.

Fortunately I didn't get educated because if I'd got educated I'd be an educated fool now.

Girls are more attractive to me than dresses.

I am not responsible for all the journalists in the past that have told lies.

I didn't know a time when there wasn't a war because I spent all my time from the age of two or three to eight in a coal cellar really.

I didn't try and do fashion pictures. I tried to do portraits of girls wearing dresses.

I don't feel very optimistic in London.

I don't like any sport except boxing and bull fighting.

I don't see the point of photographing trees or rocks because they're there and anyone can photograph them if they're prepared to hang around and wait for the light.

I don't think global warming is to do with us, I think it's a natural circle. I don't think a few Ferraris make that much difference.

I don't think my work does reflect my nationality - I don't like the idea of nationalism.

If you're curious, London's an amazing place.

I had a terrible time with feminists in the Seventies. They hated me, those women. I think they hated everything.

I hate being so nostalgic about the Sixties.

I hate men who are in touch with their feminine side.

I know everything should be photographed. It helps me make sense of my existence.

I like change. There's something Buddhist about it - continuous change is wonderful.

I'm never shocked, I'm not the shockable type!

In '73 I photographed the cannibals in New Guinea. They treated me OK but they didn't make you feel relaxed... I managed to escape unscathed though, I'm pretty good at that.

I never cared for fashion much, amusing little seams and witty little pleats: it was the girls I liked.

In France they don't think I'm difficult.

It is a sign of a dull nature to occupy oneself deeply in matters that concern the body; for instance, to be over much occupied about exercise, about eating and drinking, about easing oneself, about sexual intercourse.

It's only a few nutcases who do art for themselves, like Van Gogh.

It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.

I was a terrible father. The most I ever did for my children was to teach them chess. At least they got that.

I was dyslexic, so I was put in the silly class at school.

I was ten when I got my first serious beating. It was rough.

Journalists never make it clear when you are joking.

London changes because of money. It's real estate. If they can build some offices or expensive apartments they will, it's money that changes everything in a city.

My friends are all megalomaniacs - from Damien Hirst to Jack Nicholson - all of them.

My paintings are rubbish.

People want security in this insecure world.

Rather than knowing more, I think I've got more open-minded.

Rockers are the nicest people to photograph. They have no inhibitions.

Sometimes I still can't believe my luck.

The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading.

The only thing approaching art in a movie is the script.

The only thing they can't teach you at art school is art.

The reason I did fashion was it was the only way to get paid to do anything creative. You couldn't support yourself as an 'artist' - I hate that word. The only way you could be 'arty' was as a fashion photographer, because it still had a certain amount of integrity involved.

The Sixties was a time of breaking down class barriers, although I think class still exists today in some areas.

The skull is nature's sculpture.

The trouble with people like Tony Blair is they get confused, they think intelligence is education when they're two different things.

To get rich, you have to be making money while you're asleep.

You have to kind of be invisible when you photograph children, so you use a longer lens.