It’s such a crass idea – you’re either in love or out of love.
Meaning of the quote
The quote suggests that love is often viewed as a simple, black-and-white concept - you either feel it fully or not at all. However, the artist believes this is an overly simplistic way of looking at love, which can be much more complex and nuanced. Love isn't just an all-or-nothing experience, but something that can have many shades and subtleties.
About Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst is a renowned British artist and art collector who rose to fame as part of the Young British Artists (YBAs) group in the 1990s. He is known for his conceptual artworks, particularly his use of preserved animals in formaldehyde. Hirst is reportedly the UK’s richest living artist, with a net worth estimated at $384 million in 2020.
More quotes from Damien Hirst
It’d be nice to make lots of money but it’s quite difficult, because every time I make lots of money I make a bigger piece that costs lots of money.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
There’s no possible way you can get what you want.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
My Mum brought me up to believe that if you look after the pennies then the pounds look after themselves, and I could never do it.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
I made one untitled piece.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
I think an ashtray is the most fantastically real thing.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
The goal in life is to be solid, whereas the way that life works is totally fluid, so you can never actually achieve that goal.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
It’s such a crass idea – you’re either in love or out of love.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
Sometimes when you’re drunk you can see better.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
A lot of people thought I wasn’t doing anything because I was spending a lot of time socialising and going out, but I’ve always managed to get work actually done.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
It’s good to have a title that’s not just one word. If you’re gonna title it, you might as well try and say something.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
I think suicide is the most perfect thing you can do in life.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
Artists are like everybody else.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
I always feel like the art’s there and I just see it, so it’s not really a lot of work.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
But I’m more interested in why people are frightened by Jaws and why Jaws was such a hit than saying Spielberg’s my main influence.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
I always ignore money.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
But whenever I look at the question of how to live, the answer’s always staring me in the face. I’m already doing it.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
Most people live in the city and go to the country at the weekend, and that’s posh and aristocratic, but actually to live in the country and come to London when you can’t take it any more is different.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
So smoking is the perfect way to commit suicide without actually dying. I smoke because it’s bad, it’s really simple.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
Immortality is really desirable, I guess. In terms of images, anyway.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
But the answer to how to live is to stop thinking about it. And just to live. But you’re doing that anyway. However you intellectualise it, you still just live.
English sculptor and installation hampartist
In an artwork you’re always looking for artistic decisions, so an ashtray is perfect. An ashtray has got life and death.
English sculptor and installation hampartist