“You know about the fantasies related to the classics, but there is no real discussion about today’s life and no discussion of the real conditions – which is really sickening.”

It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.

I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who’s like a child.

A small act is worth a million thoughts.

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.

Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time; we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.

Mass production is nothing new. Weren’t cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids?

I’m just bringing them to Kassel to see the art show, and pay their room and board.

The purpose of art is the fight for freedom.

[Shanghai Biennale] has been my attitude for as long as I’ve been practicing art and other cultural-related activities.

The project or a few ideas which are not finished or if there are possible directions and what will lead into another game. It’s always like setting up some kind of game you can continuously play.

You have so many museums in the West, and so many shows, you need somebody to show the work, otherwise it’s empty.

Nowadays, China is experiencing the detrimental effects of such decisions. Its citizens have no creativity.

I have to find a place for my own. I have to search for my own happiness.

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.

You need a purpose to express yourself, but that expression is its own purpose.

I came back [to Beijing ] because that’s the only time I had an excuse to come back, or otherwise I would never have a reason to come back.

The cat is classic whilst the dog is Gothic – nowhere in the animal world can we discover such really Hellenic perfection of form, with anatomy adapted to function, as in the felidae.

There are no classes in life for beginners; right away you are always asked to deal with what is most difficult.

I had thought for years, probably 30 or 40 years, that it would be a lot of fun to try my hand at a classic English mystery novel.

In the classic old business cycle, there would be a diminution in sales; it would take a little while for this information to reach corporate headquarters.

Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have.

They’re classic themes, which is why I think it’s such a great story to look at again.

I like the classic Mexican style.

I still think the best classic meal in New York is a coffee-shop breakfast – you sort of can’t skip it.