Being best is a false goal, you have to measure success on your own terms.

I can’t wait to get into a position to make really bad art and get away with it.

I always feel like the art's there and I just see it, so it's not really a lot of work.

Death's just something that inspires me, not something that pulls me down. I used to get called morbid at school. I have always loved horror films; I like being frightened.

Whenever I've been well-known or hitting the press, I've always had to get my credit card out to prove I'm Damien Hirst.

When I used to do abstract paintings at school, like everyone else, the tutor said these would make great curtains. I would always neglect the formal stuff that was going on by using colour, because colour kind of came naturally to me.

I love color. I feel it inside me. It gives me a buzz.