Ai Weiwei Quotes
A land that rejects the truth, barricades itself against change and lacks the spirit of freedom is hopeless.
Quotes to Explore
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Like many writers, I started by writing short stories. I needed to learn how to write and stories are the most practical way to do this, and less soul-destroying than working your way through a lengthy novel and then discovering it's rubbish.
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I will never sign to a major record label again. If, by some mega fluke, a record of mine looked like it might break big, I'd try and do it via an indie or somehow license it. I'm not having my music owned by those corporate bastards again.
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All my life I had feared to-morrow, until I decided to have faith and to live to-day in courage.
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You don't go into politics unless you want to win.
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I believe in the free enterprise system.
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This flattery has been rather slow in coming. I think all of sudden late in life now I'm getting some credit for what I've done. Which is gratifying, but it's kind of a little late.
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The crisis of black politics can only be resolved through the development of multiclass, multiracial, progressive political structures.
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What people don't appreciate, when they picture Terminator-style automatons striding triumphantly across a mountain of human skulls, is how hard it is to keep your footing on something as unstable as a mountain of human skulls. Most humans probably couldn't manage it, and they've had a lifetime of practice at walking without falling over.
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It should be no surprise that religion in the non-western world has failed to disappear under the juggernaut of industrial capitalism, or that liberal democracy finds its most dedicated saboteurs among the new middle classes.
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People say you should go out at the top but I was enjoying my football so much. Robbie Fowler's exactly the same: he's not playing for money any more, he's playing for enjoyment. Why go out at the top if it's going to make you miserable? I just wanted to play as long as I could.
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It's hard because people often don't recognise shyness; they think it's just someone being rude. I have had to work to overcome that, especially if I'm meeting my readers at author events, because I don't want them to think I'm snooty or rude.
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Sometimes I sit down to dinner with people and I realize there is a massive military machine surrounding us, trying to kill the people I'm having dinner with.
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All Hollywood corrupts; and absolute Hollywood corrupts absolutely.
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I am proud of where I came from, and I am proud of what I've been able to achieve through hard work and perseverance. And I guarantee you that anyone who tries to say otherwise hasn't walked a day in my shoes.
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I love Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. I also love more cerebral poets like H.D. and Emily Dickinson. My parents subscribed to a monthly poetry periodical, and as a teenager I was introduced to Denise Levertov, who was an influence.
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Public appearances are a headache. I hold mine down to a minimum.
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The soul can split the sky in two and let the face of God shine through.
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Food is not a means toward resolution. It can't cure heartbreak or solve untenable dilemmas.
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Werewolves and Arabians. It's like chocolate and peanut butter - a delicious combination.
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First literature came to refer only to itself, the literary theory.
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It is nationalism which engenders nations, and not the other way round.
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Sometimes people fear the truth. They'd rather not speak to you than know what you really think.
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A land that rejects the truth, barricades itself against change and lacks the spirit of freedom is hopeless.
