Ai Weiwei Quotes

Once you've tasted freedom, it stays in your heart...

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New York has given me a lot, but I still don't consider it home.

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In the '80s, you couldn't walk in the neighborhood without looking back to see if anyone was following you. You had your key in your hand before you got to your apartment and you'd rush in so you didn't have to stop.

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I can still wake up the next day and feel that there's something that needs to be done, which always amuses me.

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Art should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don't think art is elite or mysterious.

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After I came back [to China], there was still a long period of time when I felt I had nothing to do.

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I lived there [ in New York City] as an artist, but never as a Chinese artist.

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Of course, there [in China] has to be chaos. It has to be crazy, and I don't think there's anything wrong about it except this government, which is really incapable of doing anything meaningful.

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In the end, I think, the state's rigidity is a function of its own insecurity, its indecisiveness.

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I have always stated I designed the stadium as a toilet seat. I don't care if this is a great cultural event or a national symbol. It has nothing to do with me. It deals with the city.

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Cities Quotes , Events 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.

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Heart Quotes , Issues Quotes

We see the tendency in the world to criticise democracy and sometimes even to say that authoritarian countries like China are more efficient. That is very short-sighted. China looks efficient only because it can sacrifice most people's rights. This is not something the west should be happy about.

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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.

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My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is never about exhibiting in museums or about hanging it on the wall. Art should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else. I don’t think art is elite or mysterious. I don’t think anybody can separate art from politics. The intention to separate art from politics is itself a very political intention.

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The so-called culture nowadays is only a fake one with a superficial front. It is an empty lie.

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I think by not letting young people be fully informed, how can they have energy and passion and the right picture of the world? I think that's the true crime.

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I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who's like a child.

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Politics is like air and water. And you know if there is bad politics. Everyone is polluted. Everyone is unhealthy. See the people walking on the street: how they act.

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Tags : Ai Weiwei Quotes , Air Quotes , People Quotes

Censorship is saying: "I'm the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine." But the internet is like a tree that is growing. The people will always have the last word – even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper.

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Of course, people will call you an old artist or young artist, which is just a character of you. But personally, I don't think my work and my understanding of art is so much related to being Chinese, but the character of that. Maybe it's beyond my own consciousness.

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