I think optimism is whether you are still exhilarated by life, whether you are curious, whether you still believe there is possibility.
AI WEIWEII was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn’t move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
-
-
For years, I refused to go to any openings, not even my own.
AI WEIWEI -
I don’t want the next generation to fight the same fight as I did.
AI WEIWEI -
In the end, I think, the state’s rigidity is a function of its own insecurity, its indecisiveness.
AI WEIWEI -
They very often just try to cope with their own election, their own popularity, solving the problem or selling the ideas to meet their own voters. By doing that, it creates a great imbalance in terms of making deals or treaty or all those things.
AI WEIWEI -
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.
AI WEIWEI -
Even if there have been setbacks during these past years, China is changing. China’s society is opening.
AI WEIWEI -
You only have temporary curiosity, amusement, and challenges, but that does not necessarily mean you are really convinced that it’s necessary or that it’s not even worth to do it.
AI WEIWEI -
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 -
People have been longing for this moment, because it symbolises a turning point in China’s relationship with the outside world.
AI WEIWEI -
And the kind of condition he had when he was in this society – the kind of mistreatment society gave him.
AI WEIWEI -
Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things; it is no longer so much about producing something.
AI WEIWEI -
Man has a tendency to try to give clear reasons to be rational, but often you can see how all those reasons are not convincing and turn out to be a big nonsense.
AI WEIWEI -
I think U.S. and China is a big opportunity, to be seen as partner or some kind of strategic partner maybe. But those kind of powers have a way of getting too big, then we’ll have competition.
AI WEIWEI -
You don’t have to march on Tiananmen, but you do have to be clear-minded, to find your own means of expression.
AI WEIWEI -
The whole Chinese system – not just the political leadership, the military too, the whole power structure, our education system, the whole of society – is suffering from being cut off from the free flow of information.
AI WEIWEI