Ai Weiwei Quotes
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Neither fairness nor justice, neither reality nor humanity can be simulated or manipulated by wires or remote controls.
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The disaster-makers always get away, while the innocent are always punished.
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It is better to have a retarded president who respects human values than a clever government without human values.
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What does it matter if China’s economy grows when there are no basic protections for its citizens?
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In talking about memory and our history, I think our humanity, especially in China, is cut. Cut, broken, separated. If we have a character from our history and memory, the character is broken, it’s shattered.
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They don’t believe in liberty. They don’t believe in China before the Communists. There is only one simple, clear task: to protect their control, to maintain their governing. Which is such a pity.
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On the Internet, people do not know each other, they don’t have common leaders, sometimes not even a common political goal. But they come together on certain issues. I think that is a miracle. It never happened in the past. Without the Internet, I would not even be Ai Weiwei today. I would just be an artist somewhere doing my shows.
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I think China is in a chaos now and it could be more chaos. It’s an orderly chaos. It’s a party that ruthlessly violates every human’s basic rights to serve its own purpose.'
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I have the responsibility to let the people know what happened to me, and did I commit the crime or if I didn’t, what is the real accusation? Why am I in this condition today? I think it reflects our human condition in this piece of land, and if I don’t bear some responsibility . . . . many, many people, their voice can never be heard.
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The language of communication will always need to be renewed.
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China is a society which forbids any flow of the information and freedom of speech. This is on record, so everybody should know this.
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Antiques exist as evidence of the cultural tracks we made in the past.
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The world is a sphere, there is no East or West.
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The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
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Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what’s on his mind. A fairy tale has come true.
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I think art certainly is the vehicle for us to develop any new ideas, to be creative, to extend our imagination, to change the current conditions.
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With 140 words in Chinese, you really can write a novel. Most of Confucius’s sentences are only four words, so 140 words might take his whole life to write. And you can discuss the most profound ideas related to democracy, freedom, poetry.
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This simple form of repression, of using the method of not letting anyone speak, will never succeed.
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I think it’s a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.
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The Olympics are an event manipulated into misleading people into believing that we have entered a new, successful and harmonious period in our history. This is not true.
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They tell us it will be about 'emotions' and 'friendship,' that it will be a night of joy. Who are they kidding?
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China has not established the rule of law and thus there is no justice.
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Cover-ups and deception are the nature of this society. Without lies it won’t exist.
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The Olympics are an opportunity to redefine the country, but the message is always wrong.