Ai Weiwei Quotes
- All Quotes
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No outdoor sports can be more elegant than throwing stones at autocracy; no melees can be more exciting than those in cyberspace.
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The individual under this kind of life, with no rights, has absolutely no power in this land. How can they even ask you for creativity? Or imagination, or courage or passion?
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China might seem quite successful in its controls, but it has only raised the water level. It’s like building a dam: it thinks there is more water so it will build higher. But every drop of water is still in there. It doesn’t understand how to let the pressure out. It builds up a way to maintain control and push the problem to the next generation.
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Citizens should bear the responsibility to act.
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Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.
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It’s hard to recover. You become not so innocent. You become, in a way, more sophisticated, which I think you shouldn’t. We should all have more simple happiness . . . . You become bitter.
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Not an inch of the land belongs to you, but every inch could easily imprison you.
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I’ve never planned any part of my career-except being an artist. And I was pushed into that corner because I thought being an artist was the only way to have a little freedom.
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One of the reasons religions are widely accepted is spiritual laziness and its resulting fear.
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They the government cannot stop people from communicating freely, to get information and to express themselves. When they do that, this nation is not a right place to live. They sacrifice generations of people’s opportunities. This is a crime.
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They all ask: Why? Why is it that this man’s name Ai Weiwei can never be typed on a Chinese computer or the whole sentence will disappear?
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The officials want China to be seen as a cultured, creative nation, but in this anti-liberal political society everything outside the direct control of the state is seen as a potential threat.
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I think I have this responsibility to my father’s generation, and especially future generations.
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The fundamental problem is not that there are limits on voicing different opinions here. The problem is that the whole society is dying through lack of responsibility or involvement.
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A city is a place that can offer maximum freedom. Otherwise it’s incomplete.
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But censorship by itself doesn’t work. It is, as Mao said, about the pen and the gun.
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The government computer has one button: delete.
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People have said, if you leave, you may never come back. Or they may not even let you leave. So this is always a cost you may have to pay. But I don’t want to restrict myself: When it happens, it happens. I have to deal with it, but not to prepare for it, because it is a kind of stupidity. If you prepare for it too much, you become a part of it.
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When the mayor of Nagoya denies the Nanjing Massacre, he gets blacklisted by the city of Nanjing. When the government of Sichuan denies 'tofu dregs' construction which caused the collapse of several schools, they get blacklisted by me.
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The Internet is uncontrollable. And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It’s as simple as that.
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Once you’ve tasted freedom, it stays in your heart and no one can take it. Then, you can be more powerful than a whole country.
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I don’t have this concept that separates my art from my daily life. They are one thing to me. They are always one. How do you find the way to express yourself and how to communicate with others?
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Maybe there is something I got from it. Maybe you also start to be clear on certain things.
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It is as difficult for Chinese politicians to get a real smile from the people as it is to keep the sky blue and clouds white.