Patti Smith Quotes

What I wanted to do in rock 'n roll was merge poetry with sonic scapes, and the two people who had contributed so much to that were Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.

I think that Zappa intentionally made his music weird, but did it with intelligence.

I want people to know about these visionary artists. I want people to know what they stand for and (that) they are representing something unique, something fresh. I am just so excited about their careers.

A poet must need be before his own age, to be even with posterity

Art can articulate new ideas.

Freddie Mercury made a lot of sense to me even though I didn't understand the lyrics.

The great artists are those who impose their personal vision upon humanity.

Imagination without skill gives us contemporary art.

…only a poet could frame a language that could frame a world.

Beethoven and Michelangelo, who sold their artworks for profit, were entrepreneurs and capitalists.

The artist is called a creator.

Most joyful let the Poet be, it is through him that all men see.

The writer concerned more with technique than truth becomes a technician, not an artist.

We are really in a rut with the three-minute song. You know where it's going to go. If you're trying to get your message across sometimes it's wise to say, Why don't we stop here and have a moment of silence, then go in a completely different direction?

You have to be at the forefront of culture to create art, which they call "product," and Hollywood is not. It's this very old business model, which I think is dying in a lot of ways.

If a work of art is to explore new environments, it is not to be regarded as a blueprint but rather as a form of action-painting.

Most artists create foundations where they put their own work. Here I'm not putting my own work. I'm just creating the chambers.

For a poet, making poems is a way of viewing the world, being in the world, breathing.

I'm just wowed by the universe. I'm just glad to do something I love to do. I love color, I love painting, I love shapes, I love composition, I love the people around me. I'm adoring it all. My legacy is in the hands of other people.

Creative vision creates art" - he motioned around the gallery - "that shows the rest of the world a new angle. That's beautiful thing." "Or some sort of madness", she said.

It is fatal for art if it is forced into official respectability and condemned to sterile mediocrity.

What do artists do? Artists give people something they didn't know they were missing: a dance, a piece of music, a painting, a piece of sculpture. Catering to that need is the best business strategy.

My dreams are my work. I design out of the things that I love.

My definition of an artist is anyone who's ahead of his time and behind on his rent.

Poets alone are sure of immortality; they are the truest diviners of nature.