People have a tendency to become elite rather than to care about the general conditions of the society, which makes me sick. It’s an unbearable condition.
AI WEIWEII call on people to be ‘obsessed citizens,’ forever questioning and asking for accountability. That’s the only chance we have today of a healthy and happy life.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
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The freedom of speech is an important yardstick for a society’s level of civilization.
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I believe [the architecture firm] Herzog and de Meuron and our collaboration made the product the best it could be.
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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.
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The purpose of art is the fight for freedom.
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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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We literally lived underground. We dug a hole and lived there for years. My father cleaned public toilets, even though he was a highly respected poet.
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It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.
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I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it’s all we need.
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Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.
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I don’t think China should care if this crazy old guy should have a show here or not.
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Say what you say plainly, and then take responsibility for it.
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Had I to create a name for these times, I’d say it is the age of craziness
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Today, the general masses in this society are in this political-social condition that really encourages people to become rich and become a star and be unique.
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I never think any place is better than others.
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It’s like the mountains, the ocean and the rivers. It has its own geological forms. Societies cannot be flat. But during change, human rights, human dignity and free speech have to be protected. Otherwise, we’ll be going backward.
AI WEIWEI






