Ai Weiwei Quotes

It is not an easy job to govern China, I am aware of that. There are crises and emergencies all the time, we might not even be aware of some. But I am afraid we'll have to wait and observe precisely what the government is up to.

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

Civilization has evolved toward more acceptance, understanding and tolerance of global thinking. If we accept differences, our creativity booms. It makes life much more colorful. It also makes humanity much more safe. If we see pureness somewhere as something to be desired, the trouble starts.

I always admire writers. My father was a writer, a poet. I always admire people who can clearly state their mind.

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.

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.

These are nonviolent people who have lost their freedom simply because they expressed their ideas….In truth, they are heroes of our time.

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.

I also doubt a man can give really clear reasons for anything.

I grew up in a desert, which has no kind of imagination.

I don't think [price] reflects if the work is good or bad.A good artist shouldn't be nervous about that.

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

I think China is laughing about the results of the presidential elections. China, Russia, they all laugh about it. They see how dramatic U.S. has to be put this kind of shame on its own - cannot handle the situation. Or show such a difficulty with this liberal ideas. Men or women created equal. And to defend those very essential ideas.

I always want to design a frame that’s open to everyone. I don’t see art as a secret code.

Hopefully, other successes aren't like me. It carries much more meaning to other people; my success story is irrelevant. It doesn't make any sense.

China and the U.S. are two societies with very different attitudes towards opinion and criticism. In China, I am constantly under surveillance. Even my slightest, most innocuous move can - and often is - censored by Chinese authorities.

My childhood was quite extreme. Sometimes I was so weak I could not stand up. But now I am so strong. Life is unpredictable

I have to respect my life, and free expression is part of my life. I can never really silence myself.

My typical day is I wake up and appreciate that I can still wake up.

Liberty is about the right to question everything.

All the auction houses care about is the selling of luxury goods.

It's always the rich and there's plenty to waste, yet still China has a lot of people living in very spare, poor conditions.

In my life, I often make so-called major decisions by very quick, immediate responses.

You need a purpose to express yourself, but that expression is its own purpose.

I was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn't move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.

If Shakespeare were alive today, he might be writing on Twitter.

Everything is art. Everything is politics.

What counts in the end is what the government does.

Without freedom of speech, there is no modern world, just a barbaric one.

That's why I always question this sense. The feeling of home really requires a lot of trust. It requires you to identify with it, which I always find myself very contradictory to.

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

Whenever there is injustice, there is tension. But in China it is very hard to release your anger unless you burn yourself or you jump from a bridge. In a society where there is no freedom of the press, it is difficult for victims to be noticed.

China hasn't only existed for one day. Now, the whole nation has become richer and it's become a problem. The problem is universal. The factor is big. Everybody has to rethink the balance of the world and the whole landscape.

China partially wants to become part of the world. By hosting the Olympics and the Expo, they made a big effort to tell people: Look, we are the same. They want to be accepted by the international community.

The idea to use backpacks came from my visit to Sichuan after the earthquake in May 2008. During the earthquake many schools collapsed. Thousands of young students lost their lives, and you could see bags and study material everywhere. Then you realize individual life, media, and the lives of the students are serving very different purposes. The lives of the students disappeared within the state propaganda, and very soon everybody will forget everything.

The misconception of totalitarianism is that freedom can be imprisoned. This is not the case. When you constrain freedom, freedom will take flight and land on a windowsill.

This world should be much more open and should be much more free, so the young people would have the chance to exercise the quality of their lives.

Selling high or low doesn't mean anything. It has to do purely with the market.

[Being unique] gives so much privilege to people who can make it, rather than having some moral and aesthetic discussions.

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.

I don't like China. Even today, I still feel I have no emotional relations with this place.

The Internet changes the structure of society all the time — this massiveness made of individuals.

If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that?

A nation that has no music and no fairytales is a tragedy.

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

Liberty is about our rights to question everything.

Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been sentenced not once but sometimes three times after they come out. They serve five or six years, come out another time, and then nine years. Come out again, 12 years. Only because they have a different opinion. They are innocent people, they have beautiful minds, beautiful hearts.

China seems unpredictable because it has a distinct culture and social system. It is still a mystery to other parts of the world, even though the veil of China has been lifted many times as a result of globalization.