Once you’ve tasted freedom, it stays in your heart and no one can take it. Then, you can be more powerful than a whole country.
AI WEIWEIWhenever 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.
More Ai Weiwei Quotes
-
-
I think optimism is whether you are still exhilarated by life, whether you are curious, whether you still believe there is possibility.
AI WEIWEI -
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 -
Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.
AI WEIWEI -
It [success] is really by mistake.
AI WEIWEI -
Destroy or build. Crazy or noncrazy. I’m not nostalgic about the old city. I don’t enjoy it that much.
AI WEIWEI -
It is to wonder about the world, to understand the nature of people and, most importantly, to be shared with another, old or young, known or unknown.
AI WEIWEI -
I have to find a place for my own. I have to search for my own happiness.
AI WEIWEI -
China is at a different stage of development, human rights are violated here much more often. And still, we see improvements even here.
AI WEIWEI -
I don’t think I was very structured in that society and I don’t really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.
AI WEIWEI -
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 -
[Therefore] holding a trial outside the court. I think that is fairness, that is justice, that is a civil society. Otherwise call it an evil society because everything is hidden.
AI WEIWEI -
We are not on – even just a step away from the most brutal and primitive crudity. To be very crude on those issues, which is always challenges and we always have to look at the situation like a mirror, to draw some understanding.
AI WEIWEI -
Now many enterprises are made by individuals, so the attitude has started to change.
AI WEIWEI -
Imagine one day, the hateful world around you collapses. And it is your attitude, words and actions that put an end to it. Will you be excited?
AI WEIWEI -
I have to respect my life, and free expression is part of my life. I can never really silence myself.
AI WEIWEI