“We never really see the global situation as a total situation. Today’s political leaders are still lacking of the vision.”

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

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.

I don’t care if this is a great cultural event or a national symbol. It has nothing to do with me. It deals with the city.

I think China is laughing about the results of the presidential elections. China, Russia, they all laugh about it.

Say what you say plainly, and then take responsibility for it.

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

I am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time it’s really useless.

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.

Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.

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.

Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.

Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. I don’t feel that much anger. I equally have a lot of joy.

Any individual can contribute its own belief. And our society or even our government are made by the people. The people would have the final voice, but it requires each individual to act. If we don’t act, then the result is very clear.

I saw [Allen Ginsberg] more as an old man who liked poetry and who had a lot of physical and emotional problems. We liked our time together.

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

I will bring 1,001 Chinese to participate as my artwork there – any Chinese who is a Chinese passport holder and over eighteen years old could apply through my blog.

Education can’t make us all leaders, but it can teach us which leader to follow.

We’re a leader sure, but still a member of the global community. And that’s true and important and when America acts like its worst self on the global stage is when we forget that.

Why in times of need do we call on that one person? Why do we confide in that one person.

People had so much respect for George Mitchell. They wanted to cooperate with him. I think that’s a hallmark of a very good leader.

In Washington, if you’re a congressman or a senator or the President, you make much more money than the average American, but you’d think that if you were the leader of the free world you’d be making major bank, and you don’t.

The future of any leader or political systems is to be determined by the people of the country.

George Mitchell was a very good leader, and we were more than satisfied with his leadership. And I know the guys were jealous.

What good is music? None … and that is the point. To the world and its states and armies and factories and Leaders, music says, ‘You are irrelevant’; and, arrogant and gentle as a god, to the suffering man it says only, ‘