Billy Childish Quotes

• It is an artist's duty to be on the wrong end of the see-saw.

  Billy Childish

  Artist, Saws, Ends

  4 Copy quote

• I've dubbed myself as an amateur, not because I work in different field, but because I do what I do for love.

  Billy Childish

  Different, Fields

  "Billy Childish Talks Van Gogh And His Definition Of The Word 'Amateur'” by Susan Michals, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 13, 2011.

  8 Copy quote

• We believe in a society in delusion, and if you're awake and not deluded people tell you you're mad. That's why I'm a freak and they're not. But I'm actually not.

  Billy Childish

  Believe, People, Mad

  7 Copy quote

• Failure is fantastic, because you meet yourself and get to know your limitations. This is how I express myself, and I can't do it any other way.

  Billy Childish

  Way, Fantastic, Knows

  5 Copy quote

• My favourite things are jokes, friendliness and feeling comfortable.

  Billy Childish

  Feelings, Favourite, Jokes

  19 Copy quote

• One of my biggest problems in life has been my inability to lie.

  Billy Childish

  Lying, Inability, Problem

  8 Copy quote

• We are not actually in charge of life, yet we behave as if we are the masters of our own destiny. The realization of this fact is quite a hard one. The ridiculousness of our pomposity and presumption can only result in anger or humor.

  Billy Childish

  Destiny, Realization, Facts

  7 Copy quote

• Artists who don't paint aren't artists.

  Billy Childish

  Artist, Paint

  "Stuckist Manifesto". Manifesto by Billy Childish, Charles Thomson, www.theguardian.com. 1999.

  4 Copy quote

• Being a fan of authentic Dada, I find today's art - what I call 'Bankers' Dada' - mind-numbingly dull. The most challenging work I've seen of late is by The British Art Resistance. Their document, 'A Call for Heroes in an Age of Cowards', is apt in these days of witless chancers.

  Billy Childish

  Art, Hero, Challenging Work

  9 Copy quote

• I think that the mythology of Van Gogh's life, and the beauty of his paintings, is unstoppable.

  Billy Childish

  Thinking, Painting, Unstoppable

  "Billy Childish Talks Van Gogh And His Definition Of The Word 'Amateur'" by Susan Michals, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 13, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

• I liked drawing and painting, because the only failure would be to listen to the doubters who wanted me to stop drawing and painting because 'you aren't going to make a living doing that.' I liked looking in art books at the work of painters.

  Billy Childish

  Art, Book, Drawing

  4 Copy quote

• I loved moustaches. I used to draw myself with one. When I was 14, I was really into war and Van Gogh.

  Billy Childish

  War, Moustache, Used

  "The importance of being Childish" by Tim Teeman, The Times, December 02, 2006.

  12 Copy quote

• I like feeling at home and knowing people. I like talking about ideas and being friendly.

  Billy Childish

  Home, Talking, Ideas

  4 Copy quote

• I've not been an admirer of contemporary music since punk rock went off the boil in 1977, but once a year I'll listen to 'Spiral Scratch' by the Buzzcocks, or 'Hippy Hippy Shake' by the Swinging Blue Jeans. Otherwise, I can put up with Chopin or shakuhachi flute in the background.

  Billy Childish

  Rocks, Blue, Years

  7 Copy quote

• I like being on the margins. You work better there.

  Billy Childish

  Margins

  "The Importance of Being Childish". The Times, December 02, 2006.

  4 Copy quote

• Before 1999, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas offered to get me exhibitions, but joining the Stuckists put a kaibosh on all that - because I wasn't prepared to be controlled. I agreed to co-found the Stuckists to be allowed to say what I wanted, and I left the Stuckists because I didn't really want to be in them in the first place.

  Billy Childish

  Joining, Exhibitions, Want

  "The Stuckists: Punk Victorian". Book by Frank Milner, 2004.

  5 Copy quote

• I did not like prizes at school. I didn't like tests or exams, or the 11+, or O-levels. Later I hated B.A.s and M.A.s. The reason I hated them is that I don't like being tested, failed or falsely praised by anyone.

  Billy Childish

  School, Levels, Tests

  7 Copy quote

• A moustache to a man is the same as a fringe is to a woman. When you've got it, you want to grow it out; when you've grown it out, you want to cut it.

  Billy Childish

  Cutting, Men, Mustache

  "Billy Childish Interview On Stuckism, Humor And Moustaches". Interview with Kathleen Massara, www.huffingtonpost.com. April 8, 2013.

  26 Copy quote

• I gave up drinking lots of whiskey and began to practice yoga and meditation. As a result I am not dead.

  Billy Childish

  Drinking, Yoga, Health

  6 Copy quote

• Bowie and McCartney arrived, and the biscuits and caviare started and I left immediately. I don't like shouting across rooms, with people in shiny suits who look like used-car salesmen.

  Billy Childish

  People, Car, Looks

  "The importance of being Childish" by Tim Teeman, The Times, December 2, 2006.

  7 Copy quote

• People could live very happily without the Turner Prize, but they could not live without real communication and emotion.

  Billy Childish

  Real, Communication, People

  4 Copy quote

• I make sure I make a painting - that's my job. And I cook the Sunday dinner.

  Billy Childish

  Jobs, Sunday, Dinner

  4 Copy quote

• I don't spend a lot of time working if I can help it.

  Billy Childish

  Helping, Ifs, I Can

  "A room of my own: Billy Childish" by Alex Clark, www.theguardian.com. January 7, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• I'm going to get a pair of wire-snips, and I've also started a new campaign to have blank CDs on jukeboxes so you can play the silence.

  Billy Childish

  Cds, Play, Silence

  4 Copy quote

• I'm not trying to achieve perfection. I don't like this forced control people have over work.

  Billy Childish

  People, Perfection, Trying

  4 Copy quote

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