More from Banksy
Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.
BanksyBanksy I know street art can feel increasingly like the marketing wing of an art career, so I wanted to make some art without the price tag attached. There’s no gallery show or book or film. It’s pointless. Which hopefully means something.
BanksyBanksy Some people represent authority without ever possessing any of their own.
BanksyBanksy People who get up early in the morning cause war, death and famine.
BanksyBanksy I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don’t do that so much anymore.
BanksyBanksy If you have a statue in the city centre you could go past it every day on your way to school and never even notice it, right. But as soon as someone puts a traffic cone on its head, you’ve made your own sculpture.
BanksyBanksy Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place.
BanksyBanksy It’s impossible to predict which paintings will last and which won’t. In New Orleans I painted on a dilapidated shop in a street littered with abandoned cars and rotting mattresses, then two hours later the piece was gone. It turned out I’d picked the side of a crack house and the proprietor didn’t like the attention.
BanksyBanksy I’d been painting rats for three years before someone said ‘that’s clever it’s an anagram of art’ and I had to pretend I’d known that all along.
BanksyBanksy If you feel dirty, insignificant or unloved, then rats are a good role model. They exist without permission, they have no respect for the hierarchy of society, and they have sex 50 times a day.
BanksyBanksy If you don’t own a train company then you go and paint on one instead… it all comes from that thing at school when you had to have name tags in the back of something… that makes it belong to you. You can own half the city by scribbling your name over it.
BanksyBanksy I originally set out to try and save the world, but now I’m not sure I like it enough.
BanksyBanksy The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. It’s people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages.
BanksyBanksy Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else.
BanksyBanksy I love the way capitalism finds a place – even for its enemies.
BanksyBanksy The grumpier you are, the more assholes you meet.
BanksyBanksy
Original quotes
From our community writers
Sadness shoots a bullet straight at your heart and love buys you time.
Shelby CaudleShelby Caudle Do you think it possible that some people are born to give more love than they will ever get back in return?
Tyler Knott GregsonTyler Knott Gregson It’s been a long time since we said goodbye and yet the echoes of it are still ringing in our ears.
Ranata SuzukiRanata Suzuki In this wilderness, Mankind is the animal I fear.
Addison SchmittAddison Schmitt We can always walk with them in the rain instead of just lending an umbrella.
Leon MarshLeon Marsh Flowers only wither to bloom again. So shall you break, only to be whole again.
Fareena AliyaFareena Aliya What do you do when the passion burns out? Start another fire.
Jonny OxJonny Ox To love well is the task in all meaningful relationships, not just romantic bonds.
Bell HooksBell Hooks
Meet the writers
More on police
The mob became unruly and the police were forced to resort to sex.
Dick CavettDick Cavett Why are sex and violence always linked? I’m afraid they’ll blur together in people’s minds – sexandviolence – until we can’t tell them apart. I expect to hear a newscaster say, “The mob became unruly and the police were forced to resort to sex.”
Dick CavettDick Cavett In my opinion, New York City police officers are brave.
Heath LedgerHeath Ledger Still, I wrote. Even when the police where coming. Even when my whole body hurt, and the slightest sound would make me quake.
Gemma IversenGemma Iversen I got in trouble with the police, and that was a rude awakening. That was it. I’d seen the bottom of the pit, and it was time to scrape myself out of it.
Bryan AdamsBryan Adams If the Saudis were culpable, they should be held accountable. If they had nothing to do with 9/11, they have nothing to fear.
Charles SchumerCharles Schumer There are those who believe justice and dignity are reserved only for some people. Young men have died in police custody, and the growing heel of poverty has worn down harder on children of color…We must fight back.
Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth Warren Avoid being seized by the police. The cops are not your friends. Don’t tell them anything.
Hunter S. ThompsonHunter S. Thompson
