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

I want people to see their own power.

It became like a symbolic thing, to be “an artist.” After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product.

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

Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.

I think I’m just a traveler. When you walk across a river and there’s no bridge, you build one. I’m used to having to deal with Chinese Communist ideology.

Growing up, my family was an enemy of the state. I have experienced more disappointment than joy, much more sad stories or desperate conditions.

My angst and my insecurity reflect the state’s angst and insecurity. The state is scared too.

I never regret anything.

The relationship between the Chinese government and me is like a Cold War.

So, the politicians and the people who make decisions very often is the one we think can make some difference. But of course they will not make a difference if the citizens or the individuals not push it or not to speak out, to possess a very strong voice about, this is not acceptable.

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

To call yourself a Chinese artist or woman artist or African artist reflects a certain kind of condition. To me, that is not necessary.

I never felt like a Chinese citizen because I was pushed away at a very young age. My father, a writer, was a national enemy of the Communist Party. He was forbidden to write for 20 years.

If I look at it, I would laugh. I don’t know how I became successful.

He will still mean danger. Modern technology requires calm. You shouldn’t trust anyone with a car who has no knowledge about vehicles or roads.

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

I’m for the freedom of expression, given that it will be under strict control.

The study of science teaches young men to think, while study of the classics teaches them to express thought.

And I want to warn everyone in the press and all the voters out there: if you demand expressions of religious faith from politicians, you are just begging to be lied to.

Isocrates was in the right to insinuate, in his elegant Greek expression, that what is got over the Devil’s back is spent under his belly.

I don’t talk politics and I don’t talk philosophy or anything like that, but if you look at my work, you might get an expression of me as a person.

The evening sings in a voice of amber, the dawn is surely coming.

The thing we have to fear in this country, to my way of thinking, is the influence of the organized minorities, because somehow or other the great majority does not seem to organize.

Almost every cartoonist, when he’s sitting down to draw a funny face.