We use fashion for status and to beautify and there's nothing wrong with that, but when it becomes completely unbalanced, then you're living a decadent life. And when that happens on a global scale, you're living in a decadent world.

- David LaChapelle

My mum was one of those people who really wasn't allowed to be an artist, because she worked in a factory and she came from the war and all that stuff. She really has an artist's soul.

- David LaChapelle

I moved to New York when I was 15, but my parents lived nearby in Connecticut, so I could go be in this incredible countryside when I needed it.

- David LaChapelle

I like the consistency of having people in my life for a long time.

- David LaChapelle

I was always painting when I was a kid. But then when I handled a camera when I was 17, that was it for me. I loved photography. I would work 4 or 5 hours a day. It was like a calling.

- David LaChapelle

The tools I learned photographing celebrities, now I want to use them to sell ideas.

- David LaChapelle

People get devalued in Hollywood when they age, despite all their efforts to stay relevant and beautiful and young. They can't get jobs anymore.

- David LaChapelle

My dream since I was a kid was to show in a gallery.

- David LaChapelle

In the fashion world, I was always an outsider, but I made people look good, so I had a career.

- David LaChapelle

I went to art high school and thought I'd be a painter. Unfortunately I didn't finish high school, but that's always been part of my work.

- David LaChapelle

I have this idea that you can use glamour and still have it represent something that matters.

- David LaChapelle

With mania, is it dangerous to ride that euphoric feeling. You feel very animated and creative; I would fill journals with drawings. It feels good and you want it to last, but it can lead to being delusional. The delusions can be as real as you thinking you can fly.

- David LaChapelle

Just as Renaissance artists provided narratives for the era they lived in, so do I. I'm always looking beyond the surface. I've done that ever since I first picked up a camera.

- David LaChapelle

I've never wanted to be part of an inner circle of any scene. I've always been an outsider looking to question and subvert.

- David LaChapelle

For me, it's easier to like more things than to dislike them; I'm not a critic in that sense. I find it easier to like more, to be more open and enjoy more things, which has given me more opportunities.

- David LaChapelle

My mother taught me a lot about respect for all living things - for plants and animals. I am a vegetarian. I was brought up that way.

- David LaChapelle

I never want people to be repulsed with my pictures; I always want to attract people.

- David LaChapelle

As you get older, you think about things differently from when you do in your twenties, when you think you'll live forever.

- David LaChapelle

There's nothing that symbolizes loss or grief more than a mother losing a child.

- David LaChapelle

I love fashion, beauty, glamour. It's the mark of civilisation.

- David LaChapelle