“If you feel dirty, insignificant or unloved, then rats are a good role model. They exist without permission, they have no respect for the hierarchy of society, and they have sex 50 times a day.”

It’s impossible to predict which paintings will last and which won’t. In New Orleans I painted on a dilapidated shop in a street littered with abandoned cars and rotting mattresses, then two hours later the piece was gone. It turned out I’d picked the side of a crack house and the proprietor didn’t like the attention.

I’d been painting rats for three years before someone said ‘that’s clever it’s an anagram of art’ and I had to pretend I’d known that all along.

If you don’t own a train company then you go and paint on one instead… it all comes from that thing at school when you had to have name tags in the back of something… that makes it belong to you. You can own half the city by scribbling your name over it.

I originally set out to try and save the world, but now I’m not sure I like it enough.

The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. It’s people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages.

Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else.

I love the way capitalism finds a place – even for its enemies.

The grumpier you are, the more assholes you meet.

You owe the companies nothing. You especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.

Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent, leave the house before you find something worth staying in for.

I love the way capitalism finds a place – even for its enemies.

Nothing is black and white, and there is no purity and there is no such thing has justice.

Film is incredibly democratic and accessible, it’s probably the best option if you actually want to change the world, not just re-decorate it.

But there’s no way round it-commercial success is a mark of failure for a graffiti artist. We’re not supposed to be embraced in that way. When you look at how society rewards so many of the wrong people, it’s hard not to view financial reimbursement as a badge of self-serving mediocrity.

I’ve learnt from experience that a painting isn’t finished when you put down your brush – that’s when it starts. The public reaction is what supplies meaning and value. Art comes alive in the arguments you have about it.

I have a theory that you can make any sentence seem profound by writing the name of a dead philosopher at the end of it.

Who else do you admire, and exactly what do you admire about them? Have your roster of role models ready and waiting to help you the next time you are perplexed.

I remove a lot of the pressure from myself by saying I’m not competing with my parents. They are the persons who taught me my ideology. They actively practiced what they preached. They’re the exemplars and the role models. So how does one compete with a mentor?

No one can solve an issue where there is no economic model yet.

A manager can’t act like a role model. They need to BE a role model.

My hairstyle role model is Manuel Neuer. His hair is always perfect.

I don’t think of myself as a role model. I do try to live in a compassionate, considerate and positive way. The only advice I can offer is to find what you love to do, find the joy in it, and express yourself through your passion.

A role model for me is somebody who is really empathetic and has a calm strength to them. Sometimes you meet random people and they’re really inspiring because they seem wise; they’ve gone through things.

The only model to follow is pure Islam.