The art critics on some of Britain's newspapers could as easily have been assigned gardening or travel, and been cheerfully employed for life.

The art critics on some of Britain's newspapers could as easily have been assigned gardening or travel, and been cheerfully employed for life.

My aim in life isn't so much the pursuit of happiness as the happiness of pursuit.

Artists need a lot of collectors, all kinds of collectors, buying their art.

By and large, talent is in such short supply that mediocrity can be taken for brilliance rather more than genius can go undiscovered.

If I stop being on good behaviour for a moment, my dark little secret is that I don't actually believe many people in the art world have much feeling for art and simply cannot tell a good artist from a weak one, until the artist has enjoyed the validation of others - a received pronunciation.

I may not be much good at most things, but if I didnt have the pleasure of planning and installing shows, and doing it better than anyone else, I would have stopped buying art many years ago.