Ai Weiwei Quotes

Each year 70 million Chinese leave China freely—go out to the West and the rest of the world—and freely return to China which some call a prison.

People are not trying to get into China, they're trying to get out of China. The United States is the only great country where people are trying to get into to this country for obvious reasons.

So people ought to be free to leave here, but there ought to be opportunity for them to come home.

But when I really look back on my life, being really honest about it and now that I've got the chance to travel the world, seeing how a lot of little kids grow up - my life wasn't so bad.

When we got back to the U.S., I wanted to kiss the ground after seeing what people in other countries are denied or don't have.

There's so many examples of just how lucky we are to be born anywhere in this world that is free.

Even in these difficult times we face, there is not one nation on Earth that would not want to trade places with us.

There's a lot of people in the world that would love to trade places with American citizens, and we are very fortunate to be here.

My parents were among the first families from their area to leave Nigeria and come to America, the land of the free.

People like me thought America was the best place to be creative, to be free to create, to have the freedom to be who you are.

America was once the safest place. I used to ask our people why they were going there. They used to say America is the safest place.

Back in 2004, Vince McMahon basically told me to consider WWE to be my playground, and that I could come and play any time I wanted to.

You need to understand something, you drink deeply from wells of freedom and liberty and opportunity that you did not dig. You eat lavishly from banquet tables prepared for you by your ancestors. You sit under the shade of trees that you did not plant or cultivate or care for. You have a choice in life, you can just sit back, getting fat, dumb, and happy, consuming all the blessings put before you, or it can metabolize inside of you, become fuel to get you into the fight, to make this democracy real, to make it true to its words that we can be a nation of liberty and justice for all.

What captivity has been to the Jews, exile has been to the Irish. For us, the romance of our native land begins only after we have left home; it is really only with other people that we become Irishmen.

I've been lucky enough to go back and forth.

Filmmakers now have the freedom to create the type of movie they want. More screenwriters, directors, and producers now have the chance to see their words on screen now that VOD and streaming outlets are available. Overall, it's a good thing for filmmaking and documentarians.

What fetched me instantly (and thousands of other newcomers with me) was the subtle but unmistakable sense of escape from the United States.

I take advantage of the opportunities that have come my way. I think I've lucked out that I've never been thrust in the spotlight where people wanted to dissect every aspect of my life. I've been given a lot of distance and respect. It's allowed me the best of both worlds. I have the job of my dreams, but I also have the freedom that doesn't always come with it. I feel very lucky in that sense.

People there only dream that it is China, because if you are Chinese you can never let go of China in your mind.

Exile is a dream of a glorious return. Exile is a vision of revolution: Elba, not St Helena. It is an endless paradox: looking forward by always looking back. The exile is a ball hurled high into the air.

I think I'm very fortunate to be born in America. And lucky to be able to have lived and had the opportunity to do what I want to do.

Freedom bestows on us the priceless gift of opportunity - if we neglect our opportunities we shall certainly lose our freedom.

Nowhere in the world is presented a government of so much liberty and equality. To the humblest and poorest amongst us are held out the highest privileges and positions. The present moment finds me at the White House, yet there is as good a chance for your children as there was for my father's.

I came to the United States in 1981 as a student.When I left, I was totally the most beloved little flower in China and so it was an outrage basically.

You get to go and play with the big boys, it's a very privileged thing for us to do. So I'm sure we have more ideas than what I actually have time for.