Ai Weiwei Quotes
- All Quotes
-
Citizens should bear the responsibility to act.
-
I lost all connection with the outside world and was immersed in a world of darkness. I was scared that my existence would fade silently. No one knew where I was, and no one would ever know. I was just like a small soybean-once fallen to the ground, it rolls into a crack in the corner. Being unable to make any sounds, it will forever be forgotten.
-
Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition.
-
Chairman Mao was the first in the world to use Twitter. All his quotations are within 140 words.
-
They just don’t trust people. They don’t trust individuals, they don’t trust any change that should serve and benefit people, and they try to stop it.
-
We should leave behind discrimination, because it is narrow-minded and ignorant, denies contact and warmth, and corrodes mankind’s belief that we can better ourselves. The only way to avoid misunderstanding, war, and bloodshed is to defend freedom of expression and to communicate with sincerity, concern, and good intentions.
-
I always want to design a frame that’s open to everyone. I don’t see art as a secret code.
-
I want to prove that the system is not working. . . . . You can’t simply say that the system is not working. You have to work through it
-
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.
-
You’re in total isolation. And you don’t know how long you’re going to be there, but you truly believe they can do anything to you. There’s no way to even question it. You’re not protected by anything. Why am I here? Your mind is very uncertain of time. You become like mad. It’s very hard for anyone. Even for people who have strong beliefs.
-
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?
-
Expressing oneself is like a drug. I’m so addicted to it.
-
One of the reasons religions are widely accepted is spiritual laziness and its resulting fear.
-
I often ask myself if I am afraid of being detained again. I love freedom as much as anybody else, maybe more than most. But it is a tragedy to live your life in fear. It is worse than actually losing your freedom.
-
This is a decadent era. Its main characteristic is that it’s dependent on lies and cheating. Once it loses this characteristic, it can’t survive for even a day.
-
To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is the reason.
-
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.
-
It doesn’t matter where I am-China will stay in me. I don’t know how far I can still walk on this road and what is the limit.
-
Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.
-
Before blogging, I was living in the Middle Ages. Now my feelings for time and space are entirely different.
-
We see plenty of artistic work that reflects superficial social conditions, but very little work that questions fundamental values.
-
We have to give our opinion, we have to say something, or we are a part of it. As an artist I am forced to say something.
-
A fine line separates Chinese intellectuals and professors from the political gangsters who protect them.
-
I spend very little time just doing ''art as art.'