I'm not opposed to commerce, even though I'm an artist.
I had to come to terms with my failure as an artist... I had to find a way for myself.
Strolling on the plateau of life, desperate for the mountain, I never thought that I would get this far. It's only art that has carried me through, given me faith in my own existence. But now I am approaching a point in my life where I desire more.
Because of the amount of press attention, people went to see this dirty bed, as if it was a freak show. But when they got there, they saw something else - the bed, stuff on the walls, whatever. For the Tate, it's the highest attendance they ever received for the Turner Prize show. There was a massive queue, and when you got into my bit, you couldn't move.
Someone else who liked what I did might turn around and say, "She's reworking and rethinking everything. She could just be making blankets now, and be a lot wealthier." I'm actually making it difficult for myself. I wouldn't call it re-branding. If I get bored with my work, then other people will - it's that simple. And I'm not gonna get bored with what I'm doing. I'll struggle and fight and do new things to excite myself - and do it in my own sweet way.
For me, being an artist with a high profile is a good thing for art.
I've been slagged off completely by the art world and I don't know whether fancy being slagged off by the literary world as well. It's just too much.
There's so much stuff said about me that's not true, so now if something is hurtful and wrong, I send an e-mail or letter immediately, saying, This is not true.
I am fiercely independent and I probably wouldn't be if it wasn't for the way in which I was brought up
One thing that success has taught me is censorship.
The idea that I'm going to have to sit down to write some fiction where I'm going to have to think of a plot would really scare me, because it would come out a mess.
My influences were from Europe from between 1900 and 1945. My favorite artists were Egon Schiele or Edvard Munch. I wasn't interested in contemporary art at all.
I'm a terrible cook, but if I could cook, I would see that in art as well, it's how much creative energy you put into something.
If I didn't want to work for a couple of years I wouldn't have to - it's a great feeling, to know I'm doing it because I want to do it.
My mum has never wanted me to have children. She thinks I would be destroying my life, even now.
What's in yesterday's newspaper is today's fish-and-chip paper. If it really affects my life so badly, so personally, then I would do something about it. When it's really out of order, or something possibly detrimental to my family, or I'm driven to such a level that I know that this can be picked up and repeated again, I will just write or e-mail the newspaper editor. So, in the next day's newspaper, it might say, "Tracey Emin says this is factually incorrect."
I'm not trying to find another thing that's wrong with me, but I'm such a nice person, and I have a couple of drinks and I'm really good fun and then I'm really not fun
They grew really quickly. One minute I didn't have any tits and the next I had the biggest tits in the world.
When I am ill or upset he jumps up on to the bed to curl up close beside me. But if I am in bed with a hangover he will have nothing to do with me.
Maybe I don't believe things myself, as well. Truth is such a transient thing...
When I think about sex it makes me realise how alone I feel.
Sometimes i feel lonely, but it's ok
Theres different kinds of love, and Id never experienced that kind of totally platonic love. All the love Ive experienced has always been a kind of deal, and now, as I get older, I realise that theres this other love out there.
I've never been married because, first of all, I don't think I've ever seriously been asked by anyone who I wanted to marry. [...] And also I'm monogamous.
If I were really, truly in love with someone who was truly in love with me, then I would get married, but that would be the only reason I'd get married.
