I'm retiring because my time is up.

Gossip is the currency of the discourse, so you should shut up about yourself. Never confess, never explain, never apologize, and never complain.

My mother was an economics professor. I'm proficient in math, and statistics, game theory, symbolic logic and all of that.

I'm retiring because my time is up.

With the artists, I don't teach, I coach. I can't tell them how to make art. I tell them to make more art. I tell them to get up early and stay up late. I tell them not to quit. I tell them if somebody else is already making their work. My job is to be current with the discourse and not be an asshole. That's all I wanted in a professor.

Most famous artists are created by their work and the idea of them as a character, and if they're smart and ambitious, they reinforce that character because they want to win. They want their views to prevail.

If I go to London, everyone wants to talk about Damien Hirst. I'm just not interested in him. Never have been.