Sam Taylor-Wood Quotes

I remember as a kid not ever wanting to have friends around to my house because it was, for want of a better description, disheveled.

I have a massive phobia for schedules and calendars. I need people to tell me where I need to be. I can't bear to see it in black and white. I think it's a fear of being pinned down.

I love karaoke. I love maudlin country ballads. In another life I'd be Loretta Lynn.

I hate rats. I had a pet rat to try and overcome it. I even gave him mouth-to mouth resuscitation when he had a heart attack. But I couldn't conquer it.

I've made lots of big decisions in my life that have shocked people.

People in love don't see gender, colour or religion. Or age. It's about the other person, the one that you love and who loves you. You don't think of them in terms of a label. You just go with your heart.

One of the few times I saw my mother cry was when Lennon died, and the other time was when Elvis died.

I've always lived my life fearlessly, and what I want to do with my life, I do.

After I left college, I went to work at the Royal Opera House in London, which became a real catalyst for me because it made me realize that I was interested in cinema and in the way life is thrust at you. So I started making films.

Relationships can go wrong very simply, very quickly, and when you have children you become more aware of relationships around you.

Sorry, there's nothing like a screaming baby to make a mother twitch.

My favorite part of the whole filmmaking process is working with a fantastic cinematographer, a fantastic actor or actors, and then just creating emotions and stories. I get so excited by that. That's the part I'm utterly addicted to.

I think you only see experiences as defining moments with distance.

Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the greatest actors of our age; he's like Olivier. He's one of those people who can take you into a place where no one else can take you.

I think people are frightened of women making big decisions.

In my life, I've never really listened to when people start forming opinions on how you should be doing things.

My childhood had its challenges, like everyone's. It imbued me with certain things and took away others. It made me very determined.

I feel the art world in New York has a stronger following than Britain. If you go to a New York art district on a Saturday morning, it will be so busy with families and openings - art is much more ingrained in the culture.

Sometimes when you're looking at your own work, you can't really see, and it's only when you step back a little bit later that you think, "Oh, that's completely in line with everything else I've done".

I never thought of having cancer as something that was unfair. I just braced myself and tried to get through it.

I love life. I think it's fantastic. Sometimes it deals hard things, and when it deals great things, you have to seize them.

I took on cancer like I take on everything - like a mission and a job to accomplish.

I wanted to become an artist because it meant endless possibilities. Art was a way of reinventing myself.

I seize all opportunities with two hands. Everything that's happened to me has taught me to live in the moment as much as possible.

I often joke that I straddle psychosis and neurosis, and that being an artist keeps me in the middle, so I can work between the two.

I like Alexander McQueen's work a lot: he's always pushing boundaries, and he's rough around the edges.

Having children is exciting. Life puts the past into perspective.

I felt giving birth was the most creative act of all my creative acts - literally creation!

I feel like I've lost 10 years of my life to cancer.

I find that I put my body in my work when I am at a particularly difficult or joyous point because I want to feel that moment.