Top quotes by Sebastian Horsley

A woman is supposed to have curves like an old Bentley, not like some old bike. Votes: 19

Everyone says Oscar Wilde was a dandy, but he wasn't - he was an aesthete. He took pleasure in food and stuff like that. Dandyism is much more austere - much more Calvinistic, more neurotic - it oscillates between narcissism and neurosis. Votes: 19

Everyone says Oscar Wilde was a dandy, but he wasn't, he was an aesthete. He took pleasure in food and stuff like that. Dandyism is much more austere-much more Calvinistic, more neurotic - it oscillates between narcissism and neurosis. Votes: 16

Being a dandy is a condition rather than a profession. It is a defense against suffering and a celebration of life. Votes: 14

Dandyism is a lie which reveals the truth, and the truth is that we are what we pretend to be. Votes: 11

I like fat girls. A woman can never be too poor or too fat. I'd take a poor fat girl over a rich thin girl like Kate Moss. Votes: 11

I don't really know what Americans are like. I've no idea. I know a few things about them. In my imagination, they have warm peachy hearts, whereas the English have horrible spiteful withered hearts - success in England inspires envy - in America, it inspires hope. Votes: 9

I like to remind myself that every morning I'm making a choice to live. Votes: 8

I used to have about a hundred suits in my late twenties and early thirties when my stock was riding high and I was rich. Votes: 8

I am a fraud. I have cobbled together my personality from hundreds of little bits. I am simultaneously the most genuine and the most artificial person you will ever meet. Votes: 8

Being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which psychoanalysis is powerless to bestow. Votes: 8

I like living sparsely. In the main room, there's no furniture - no tables, no chairs, no coffee table - not even a decaffeinated coffee table. Votes: 7

My theory is that the way you cope with the depths will ascertain the heights that you reach - they are intimately connected - and if you have a lust for life, you are also going to have a lust for death. Votes: 7

Pain can be vitalising; it gives intensity in the place of vagueness and emptiness. If we don't suffer, how do we know that we live? Votes: 6

If someone thinks I'm posh, it just shows how lowly they are. Some people think I went to Eton. I'm far too stupid to get into Eton. Votes: 5

I keep the shutters closed because I like to work in a hermetic environment. I like mirrors. When you look out of the window, all you see is ugliness, but when you look in the mirror all you see is beauty. Votes: 4

I think you are born, and I think you die. I have a pragmatic nature, but I yearn to believe. Votes: 4

Unhappiness lies in that gap between our talents and our expectations. Votes: 4

An artist has to go to every extreme, to stretch his sensibility through excess and suffering in order to feel and to communicate more. I have always been fascinated by blood. Pain can be vitalizing; it gives intensity in the place of vagueness and emptiness. If we don't suffer, how do we know that we live? Votes: 4

I live my life like an open book, even though it's open on the wrong page. Votes: 4

Think of how many boring, blameless lives are brightened by the blazing indiscretion of me. Votes: 4

The problem I've got is that I really, really like drugs. I love everything about them. It is horrific being sober all the time-utterly awful. Votes: 3

You may look back on your life and accept it as good or evil. But it is far, far harder to admit that you have been completely unimportant; that in the great sum of things, all a man's endless grapplings are no more significant than the scuttlings of a cockroach. Votes: 3

If I want to dislike women, I should be allowed to. As it happens, I love them. Women to me are privately worshipped and publicly disdained. Votes: 2

One of the many troubles of growing older is that it gets progressively harder to find a famous historical figure who hadn't yet amounted to anything by the time he was your age. Votes: 2

My one concession to American sensibilities was to remove my nail polish. Votes: 2

The problem with compassion is that it is not photogenic. Votes: 2

I have wanted only one thing to make me happy. That thing is everything. Votes: 2

People who have a reputation for being evil are usually good. Votes: 1

Self-pity is the most destructive of all narcotics. Votes: 1

I am not an intellectual. An intellectual is someone who looks at a sausage and thinks of Picasso, whereas I just say 'pass the mustard'. Votes: 0

My grandfather was a practising Quaker. My father was a nihilist. But nihilism, if you like, is the beginning of faith anyway. Votes: 0

The universe is neither friendly nor hostile. It is merely indifferent. This makes me ecstatic. Votes: 0

["] life is just the misery left between abortion and euthanasia ["] Votes: 0

But really death seems the least awful thing that can happen to someone Votes: 0

Getting old is horrible, but it is interesting . . . one of the things I've realized is that growing old is compulsory, but growing up is optional. Votes: 0

I am desperate for attention. But everyone else is too. Everyone has fantasies of fame and greatness. Life for most people is a process of shedding those fantasies. Votes: 0

I am half-Byronic, half-moronic; part-shaman, part-showman. Votes: 0

I can count all the lovers I've had on one hand...if I'm holding a calculator. Votes: 0

I didn't want to tell Mother I worked as a journalist. She thought I was a prostitute. Locking yourself in a room and inventing characters and conversations which do not exit is no way for a grown man to behave. Votes: 0

I don't think I'm known for my gifts - I'm known for my gall. I don't want to be just a famous person - I'm too old. Votes: 0

I might be old, but I'm still desirable. Votes: 0

If I hear that people are litigious, I immediately dismiss them. Votes: 0

It's better to be quotable than honest, I don't speak, I quote. I am a fraud. I have cobbled together my personality from hundreds of little bits. I am simultaneously the most genuine and the most artificial person you will ever meet. Votes: 0

It's really interesting because 50 years ago, if you didn't wear a hat everyone looked at you. It just proves that everything is fashion. Votes: 0

My only criticism about Quentin Crisp is that the subversive must be ready to subvert themselves. I may dress for myself, but I undress for everybody else, whereas he never did that - he was never prepared to drop a bomb on everything he did. Votes: 0

People are obsessed by happiness, but there are a lot of other invigorating experiences available. Votes: 0

People either hate me or dislike me - but I realized that people aren't against you, they are for themselves. We're all prejudiced in favor of ourselves. Votes: 0

The function of music is to release us from the boredom of existence. Votes: 0

The motivation of all artists is 'Look at me, Mum'. Votes: 0

There's a lot of noise about me that stops a lot of people from listening, but the good side is if you expose yourself like that, you're left with only good people who can see through you-you get rid of all the wankers. Votes: 0

To be worthy of assassination takes more than some crappy little book. Votes: 0

We build our character as a carapace to keep away the fear of the abyss. That's what our character is for. Votes: 0

You may look back on your life and accept it as good or evil. But it is far, far harder to admit that you have been completely unimportant; that in the great sum of things all a man's endless grapplings are no more significant than the scuttlings of a cockroach. The universe is neither friendly nor hostile. It is merely indifferent. This makes me ecstatic. I have reached a nirvana of negativity. I can look futility in the face and still see promise in the stars. Votes: 0