Ai Weiwei Quotes

#1. The Internet changes the structure of society all the time - this massiveness made of individuals.

Ai Weiwei

#2. I think art is a very important weapon to achieve human freedom

Ai Weiwei

#3. 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.

Ai Weiwei

#4. In an environment without public platform nor protection, the individual is the most powerful and most responsible.

Ai Weiwei

#5. I loved New York - every inch of it. It was a little bit scary at that time, but still, the excitement was so strong - visually and intellectually. It was like a monster.

Ai Weiwei

#6. Now the British are coming. I think Cameron should ask the Chinese government not to make people 'disappear' or to jail them merely because they have different opinions.

Ai Weiwei

#7. I wouldn't say I've become more radical: I was born radical.

Ai Weiwei

#8. Liberty is about our rights to question everything.

Ai Weiwei

#9. When human beings are scared and feel everything is exposed to the government, we will censor ourselves from free thinking. That's dangerous for human development.

Ai Weiwei

#10. 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.

Ai Weiwei

#11. I'm not a writer, but today I think you have to be everything. As an artist you have an obligation to let people know what is on your mind and why you're doing this.

Ai Weiwei

#12. I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it's all we need.

Ai Weiwei

#13. The seed is a household object but at the same time it is a revolutionary symbol.

Ai Weiwei

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

Ai Weiwei

#15. The world is not changing if you don't shoulder the burden of responsibility.

Ai Weiwei

#16. 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.

Ai Weiwei

#17. Twitter is most suitable for me. In the Chinese language, 140 characters is a novella,

Ai Weiwei

#18. I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable - how we decide what is valuable.

Ai Weiwei

#19. The purpose of art is the fight for freedom,

Ai Weiwei

#20. If there is no freedom of expression, then the beauty of life is lost. Participation in a society is not an artistic choice, it's a human need.

Ai Weiwei

#21. New York is a city where you're so alone, you're an individual, you can disappear. You can make something happen. But it's very different to make something happen in the art world.

Ai Weiwei

#22. Photographs are facts, but not necessarily true ... The present always surpasses the past, and the future will not care about today.

Ai Weiwei

#23. A small act is worth a million thoughts.

Ai Weiwei

#24. The world is a sphere, there is no East or West.

Ai Weiwei

#25. Creativity is the power to reject the past, to change the status quo, and to seek new potential. Simply put, aside from using one's imagination - perhaps more importantly - creativity is the power to act.

Ai Weiwei

#26. Dictatorship is a story about death of others who turn out to be you coincidently.

Ai Weiwei

#27. Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.

Ai Weiwei

#28. I think Chinese leadership is trying to tell the world they have another set of logic or reasoning or values which are different from yours. Of course, I don't think they believe that. It's just an argument that's made when you can't confront the truth and facts. They really want to maintain power.

Ai Weiwei

#29. I want people to see their own power.

Ai Weiwei

#30. An artwork unable to make people feel uncomfortable or to feel different is not one worth creating. This is the difference between the artist and the fool.

Ai Weiwei

#31. I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later.

Ai Weiwei

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

Ai Weiwei

#33. Historically, China is not a nation of sportsmen. We traditionally put more emphasis on being close to nature than pushing endlessly to excel. A philosophy that values tranquil contemplation of the landscape cannot easily be adapted to the Olympic slogan of 'higher, stronger, faster.'

Ai Weiwei

#34. Individual; that means he has his own special way to communicate, which creates the form of him. In the information age, this expression and communication has become so different.

Ai Weiwei

#35. 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.

Ai Weiwei

#36. Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what's on his mind. A fairy tale has come true.

Ai Weiwei

#37. A historical property has morals and ethics of the society that created it and it can be revived. What I mean is that we can discover new possibilities from the process of dismantling, transforming, and recreating.

Ai Weiwei

#38. Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.

Ai Weiwei

#39. I 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 okay, to speak out.

Ai Weiwei

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

Ai Weiwei

#41. 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.

Ai Weiwei

#42. 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.

Ai Weiwei

#43. Because of the economic crisis, China and the United States are bound together. This is a totally new phenomenon, and nobody will fight for ideology anymore. It's all about business.

Ai Weiwei

#44. If you don't act, the danger becomes stronger.

Ai Weiwei

#45. To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is the reason.

Ai Weiwei

#46. Had I to create a name for these times, I'd say it is the age of craziness

Ai Weiwei

#47. The IT people who have made such an effort to know and understand computer technology. They are frustrated that you cannot use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in China. They are the first to recognize that the situation is terrible.

Ai Weiwei

#48. I'm an artist who is always looking for what is possible. I'm always looking to extend the boundaries.

Ai Weiwei

#49. My situation gives me certain ideas about beauty or the excitement of life, but that doesn't mean other people can necessarily appreciate it.

Ai Weiwei

#50. We are living in a very complex society. It puts me in a complex frame of thinking.

Ai Weiwei

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

Ai Weiwei

#52. Measuring national prestige by gold medals is like using Viagra to judge the potency of a man.

Ai Weiwei

#53. Artists are the worst [people]. They are selfish, self-centred; they don't care what happens.

Ai Weiwei

#54. The 'Bird's Nest' National Stadium, which I helped to conceive, is designed to embody the Olympic spirit of 'fair competition.' It tells people that freedom is possible but needs fairness, courage and strength.

Ai Weiwei

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

Ai Weiwei

#56. Everything is art. Everything is politics.

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#57. 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.

Ai Weiwei

#58. I'm a free man now, except I cannot leave China. You know, I have no desire to travel. I have so many things to do; I cannot finish them now.

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#59. I'm always interested in people who are not orientated in art circles to become part of it.

Ai Weiwei

#60. 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.

Ai Weiwei

#61. To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. It's a very complicated process to do large projects. You start to see the society, how it functions, how it works. Then you have a lot of criticism about how it works.

Ai Weiwei

#62. I am everywhere and I am nowhere. That's the beauty of the Internet Age.

Ai Weiwei

#63. Warhol influenced me because of his writing. If I had never read his writings and interviews, I would never have understood his work.

Ai Weiwei

#64. Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things; it is no longer so much about producing something.

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#65. I will never leave China, unless I am forced to. Because China is mine. I will not leave something that belongs to me in the hands of people I do not trust.

Ai Weiwei

#66. No matter what happens, nothing can prevent the historical process by which society demands freedom and democracy,

Ai Weiwei

#67. I don't think it's worth discussing new directions in the context of Chinese art - there were no old directions, either. Chinese art has never had any clear orientation.

Ai Weiwei

#68. I think it's a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.

Ai Weiwei

#69. 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.

Ai Weiwei

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

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#71. The practice of photography is no longer a means for recording reality. Instead, it has become reality itself

Ai Weiwei

#72. 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.

Ai Weiwei

#73. Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.

Ai Weiwei

#74. As a person, I was born to give out my opinions. By giving out my opinions, I realize who I am. As long as I can communicate, I'm not so lonely. If I cannot travel, or do art, or have company, if they take away all my belongings, it doesn't matter at all.

Ai Weiwei

#75. No outdoor sports can be more elegant than throwing stones at autocracy; no melees can be more exciting than those in cyberspace.

Ai Weiwei

#76. The tragic reality of today is reflected in the true plight of our spiritual existence. We are spineless and cannot stand straight.

Ai Weiwei

#77. It's always nice to share your energy with young people, the people who might not have any skills but are simply willing to be a part of it.

Ai Weiwei

#78. Warhol came from an ordinary family and he had a profound understanding about capitalism and material culture. He was probably one of the few Western artists - or artists from the United States - that could be considered a true product of his time and brought out that kind of spirit of the culture.

Ai Weiwei

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

Ai Weiwei

#80. The people who control culture in China have no culture.

Ai Weiwei

#81. The internet is a wild land with its own games, languages and gestures through which we are starting to share common feelings.

Ai Weiwei

#82. The art always wins. Anything can happen to me, but the art will stay.

Ai Weiwei

#83. Twitter is the people's tool, the tool of the ordinary people, people who have no other resources.

Ai Weiwei

#84. Everyone of us is a potential convict.

Ai Weiwei

#85. Technology is a liberation. I think the information age probably is the best thing to happen to the human race in human evolution. Now you have the equal opportunity to equip yourself through information and knowledge and express yourself as an independent mind.

Ai Weiwei

#86. 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.

Ai Weiwei

#87. The Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai World Expo show just how much effort China is willing to spend to enter the global stage. But while China desires to understand the world, it fails to accept its universal values.

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#88. China is an old nation with a colourful history. Its booming economy has triggered an appetite and a curiosity around the world for its art and culture, one that continues to grow. I can, however, tell people that it is a show with no actor.

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#89. The Internet is uncontrollable. And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It's as simple as that.

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

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#91. Freedom of expression is a very essential condition for me to make any art. Also, it is an essential value for my life. I have to protect this right and also to fight for the possibility.

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#92. If a nation cannot face its past, it has no future.

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#93. Life is much more interesting when you make a little bit of effort.

Ai Weiwei

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

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#96. Beijing's Olympics were very grand - they were trying to throw a party for the world, but the hosts didn't enjoy it. The government didn't care about people's feelings because it was trying to create an image.

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#97. Creativity is the power to act.

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#98. For me, it is OK as long as I can breathe, as long as my heart is pumping, as long as I can express myself.

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#99. The American experience influenced my understanding of individuality, basic human rights, freedom of expression and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

Ai Weiwei

#100. 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 ...

Ai Weiwei