I have put [the word] discoveries in inverted commas because scientific results, perhaps as much at least as artistic achievements, are a product of contemporary taste, driven by momentary appetites rather than eternal verities.

Taste is more to do with manners than appearances. Taste is both myth and reality it is not a style.

That's one of the things about getting older isn't it? You suddenly realise that you are what you set out to be. And there are no role models any more.

I have no particular interest in antiquities or antiques, but I like things to meet a certain aesthetic.

It is the fragrant lack of practicality that makes high-heeled shoes so fascinating: in terms of static mechanics they induce a sort of insecurity which some find titillating.

As the twentieth century ends, commerce and culture are coming closer together. The distinction between life and art has been eroded by fifty years of enhanced communications, ever-improving reproduction technologies and increasing wealth.

Interior design is a travesty of the architectural process and a frightening condemnation of the credulity, helplessness and gullibility of the most formidable consumers - the rich.

I just don't understand how you can not be concerned about your appearance. From time to time I'm vilified as the person who cares about the look of a teapot - and it's not that I believe my taste is superior , I just can not believe that other people don't care.

It is sometimes easier to have furniture made than to find things.

Watteau is no less an artist for having painted a fascia board while Sainsbury's is no less effective a business for producing advertisements which entertain and educate instead of condescending and exploiting.

You are what you pretend to be.

The assumption must be that those who can see value only in tradition, or versions of it, deny man's ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

You must never aspire to 'finish' a house, you can merely hope to start it, and from then on it's an evolutionary process.

If you were born in Britain after World War II, you see a continuous atmosphere of decline, moral and economic and political.