Robert Mapplethorpe Quotes

Beauty and the devil are the same thing.

My work is about seeing - seeing things like they haven't been seen before.

I don't like that particular word 'shocking.' I'm looking for the unexpected. I'm looking for things I've never seen before … I was in a position to take those pictures. I felt an obligation to do them.

I am obsessed with beauty. I want everything to be perfect, and of course it isn’t. And that’s a tough place to be because you’re never satisfied.

I don't think that there's that much difference between a photograph of a fist up someone's ass and a photograph of carnations in a bowl.

When I’m behind a camera I forget I exist.

I went into photography because it seemed like the perfect vehicle for commenting on the madness of today's existence.

To make pictures big is to make them more powerful.

When I have sex with someone I forget who I am. For a minute I even forget I'm human. It's the same thing when I'm behind a camera. I forget I exist.

I'm looking for the unexpected. I'm looking for things I've never seen before.

When I work, and in my art, I hold hands with God.

If I am at a party, I want to be at the party. Too many photographers use the camera to avoid participating in things. They become professional observers.

If I had been born one or two hundred years ago, I might have been a sculptor, but photography is a very quick way to see, to make sculpture.

Whether it's an orgy or a cocktail party, I know how to do it.

The more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer.

I just try to live my life and do my thing.

If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it's as though I've neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up.

I stand naked when I draw. God holds my hand and we sing together.

I never liked photography. Not for the sake of photography. I like the object. I like the photographs when you hold them in your hand.

Whenever you make love to someone, there should be three people involved - you, the other person, and the devil.

My lifestyle is bizarre, but the only thing you need to know is where the darkroom is.

I like to look at pictures, all kinds. And all those things you absorb come out subconsciously one way or another. You'll be taking photographs and suddenly know that you have resources from having looked at a lot of them before. There is no way you can avoid this. But this kind of subconscious influence is good, and it certainly can work for one. In fact, the more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer.

I think that it was a great advantage to go into photography not knowing much about it. Not thinking. I think one of the problems with many photographers today is that they never see for themselves, but just like everybody else.

I don't know why my pictures come out looking so good. I just don't get it.

I come from suburban America. It was a very safe environment and it was a good place to come from in that it was a good place to leave.