Ai Weiwei Quotes, Thinking Quotes, Speaks Out Quotes

I also have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is OK, to speak out.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Thinking Quotes , Speaks Out Quotes

I think the pearls - one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one million pearls in a bowl - really show a kind of [society] condition.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Thinking Quotes , Necklaces Quotes

Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time; we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Directors Quotes , Moments Quotes

I hope that my work expresses my worldview and encourages people to exchange ideas.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Ideas Quotes , People Quotes

Choices after waking up: To be true or to lie? To take action or be brainwashed? To be free or be jailed?

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Lying Quotes , Choices Quotes

If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Art Quotes , Pain Quotes

Even if there have been setbacks during these past years, China is changing. China's society is opening.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Past Quotes , Years Quotes

If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Artist Quotes , Rights Quotes

Everyone of us is a potential convict.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes

I don't belong to a working system. They only select people if you belong to one so you can be controlled.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , People Quotes , Select Quotes

I don't believe in the so-called Olympic spirit. I speak from personal experience. When China hosted the Games, it failed to include the people. The event was constructed without regard for their joy.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Believe Quotes , Games Quotes

Any individual can contribute its own belief. And our society or even our government are made by the people. The people would have the final voice, but it requires each individual to act. If we don't act, then the result is very clear. So for too long Americans take liberty as granted. We think we are in the safe hand, the democracy and the liberty, which is not true. And it can be even getting much worse than today.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Thinking Quotes , Long Quotes

I wouldn’t say I’ve become more radical: I was born radical.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Born Quotes

My image of what a city should be - the super-rich and all the poor and desperate and the people who have some kind of a desire. It's a surviving game, people trying to survive on many different levels.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Games Quotes , Cities Quotes

You see so many people doing quite nice and respectful work, but nobody like Warhol. Warhol is outstanding. I think he has a value that is far from fully understood. He's very special for younger generations.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Nice Quotes , Thinking Quotes

When I first got into the first-year study after the Cultural Revolution, got into the same school with this group, I wasn't conscious of the so-called "Fifth Generation." I didn't like that kind of study condition because there's no real, true education there.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Real Quotes , School Quotes

I am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time it’s really useless.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Beautiful Quotes , Mean Quotes

Of course, most luxury goods in China are for corrupted officials and their relatives. And that made China become the biggest luxury-goods market. In this kind of dictatorship, in this kind of totalitarian society, it is easy to make deals that you cannot make in a democratic society.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Luxury Quotes , Kind Quotes

Any politician who respects China's government should tell it openly what is in his heart. It is disrespectful to keep quiet about such issues - both vis-a-vis the government and the people concerned.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Heart Quotes , Issues Quotes

Because Great Britain has self-confidence, it doesn't need a monumental Olympics.

4 years ago

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Self Confidence Quotes , Needs Quotes