107 Quotes by Robert Mapplethorpe

I like to look at pictures, all kinds. And all those things you absorb come out subconsciously one way or another. You'll be taking photographs and suddenly know that you have resources from having looked at a lot of them before. There is no way you can avoid this. But this kind of subconscious influence is good, and it certainly can work for one. In fact, the more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer.

If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it's as though I've neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up.

The more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer.

I don't like that particular word 'shocking.' I'm looking for the unexpected. I'm looking for things I've never seen before … I was in a position to take those pictures. I felt an obligation to do them.

If I am at a party, I want to be at the party. Too many photographers use the camera to avoid participating in things. They become professional observers.

I want to see something I’ve never seen before.

One must ease the public into it – that’s an art in itself.

Whether it’s an orgy or a cocktail party, I know how to do it.

I can’t have just anybody assisting me, I need somebody who I can really communicate with.