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People came at me with all sorts of offers, wanting to make me into a hard-core Cher. I had no desire for any amount of money to be reformed for someone's vision, because in the end, that's what you got: your clay in someone else's hands.
Patti Smith
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I like really hot coffee, not too strong.
Patti Smith
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I dreamed of having a book of my own, of writing one that I could put on a shelf.
Patti Smith
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Well, I'm not one of those people who needs the limelight. If I'm performing, that's what I'm doing. If I'm not, I don't long for it. I don't need the approval of an audience, or applause.
Patti Smith
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The issue of gender was never my biggest concern; my biggest concern was doing good work. When the feminist movement really got going, I wasn't an active part of it because I was more concerned with my own mental pursuits.
Patti Smith
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I get up, and if I feel out of sorts, I'll do some exercises, I'll feed my cat, then I go get my coffee, take a notebook, and write for a couple of hours.
Patti Smith
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I had a penchant myself for doing several things at once. I wanted to draw, write, speak.
Patti Smith
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It was always my belief that rock and roll belonged in the hands of the people, not rock stars.
Patti Smith
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'M Train' is as close to knowing what I'm like as anything. I don't know exactly what the book is about. All and nothing, I suppose.
Patti Smith
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All I've ever wanted, since I was a child, was to do something wonderful.
Patti Smith
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I had a handful of records, but when I was 11 years old, I liked Puccini as much as Little Richard. They both made sense to me.
Patti Smith
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Look around you, all around youRiding on a copper waveDo you like the world around you?Are you ready to behave?
Patti Smith
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Some of us are born rebellious. Like Jean Genet or Arthur Rimbaud, I roam these mean streets like a villain, a vagabond, an outcast, scavenging for the scraps that may perchance plummet off humanity's dirty plates, though often sometimes taking a cab to a restaurant is more convenient.
Patti Smith
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Mohammed personally mapped out seven heavens. If he got to seven, you know there's more.
Patti Smith
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I loved being a rock and roll star, but it wasn't what I wanted in life.
Patti Smith
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My mission is to stay healthy and productive and serve as a good example.
Patti Smith
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When I was young, I knew William Burroughs really well. And William's secret desire, which he never quite did, was to write a straightforward detective novel.
Patti Smith
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Maybe I'll be 48 and die in the gutter in Paris.
Patti Smith
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It's taken me other places, but it was the impulse to write that led me to singing. I'm not a musician. I never thought of performing in a rock n' roll band. I was just drawn in. It was like being called to duty - I was called to duty, and I did my duty as best as I could.
Patti Smith
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I'm an intuitive musician. I have no real technical skills. I can only play six chords on the guitar.
Patti Smith
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If I feel any marginalisation, it's because the things that concern me aren't so important to other people.
Patti Smith
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I was so unhealthy as a child, and at least three or four times my parents were told to get ready, that I would not make it.
Patti Smith
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Artists are traditionally resistant to labels.
Patti Smith
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My mother and father had so many ups and downs and stayed with each other and helped each other. My mother took in ironing and she was a waitress. My father was working in the factory and he did people's tax returns.
Patti Smith
