Quotes By Patti Smith

I've always thrived on the encouragement of others.

In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.

A lot of children don't have a developed aesthetic. I did. I made early choices in life, even about cloth; I liked flannel and not polyester.

Somehow I started introducing writing into my drawings, and after a time, the language took over and I started getting very involved with the handwriting and then the look of the handwriting.

Everyone thinks of God as a man - you can't help it - Santa Claus was a man, therefore God has to be a man.

I've always believed in having a sense of balance and stealth.

I'm a worker. I do the work to communicate, and I want people to embrace it, and when they do I'm happy.

Let's just say that I think any person who aspires, presumes, or feels the calling to be an artist has a built-in sense of duty.

I wanted to go to Portland because it's a really good book town.

People have the power to redeem the work of fools.

My mom loved rock 'n roll. My father hated it. We couldn't play it when he was around.

The issue of gender was never my biggest concern; my biggest concern was doing good work. When the feminist movement really got going, I wasn't an active part of it because I was more concerned with my own mental pursuits.

An artist may have burdens the ordinary citizen doesn't know, but the ordinary citizen has burdens that many artists never even touch.

My mother answers all my fan mail.

When I stopped performing for 16 years and lived in Michigan and was married and raising my children, I wrote about four or five books. I haven't published them. I just haven't gotten around to it for several reasons.

Sure I destroyed my guitar at every concert, but it was okay, because I'd always get a shiny new one the very next day.

Rock n' roll is dream soup, what's your brand?

I had a really happy childhood - my siblings were great, my mother was very fanciful, and I loved to read. But there was always financial strife.

I loved books; I read my childhood away. I was more interested in my interior world.

As an artist, I used to think that my responsibility was to do good work. But I had to learn from the '70s on that being a public figure presents another aspect of responsibility.

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.

The idea of redemption is always good news, even if it means sacrifice or some difficult times.

I've always looked the same. Since I was a child, I hated having to deal with my hair. I hated having to change my clothes. As a kid, I had a sailor shirt and the same old corduroy pants, and that's what I wanted to wear everyday.

Good news doesn't necessarily have to be a positive thing. Bringing good news is imparting hope to one's fellow man.

I've written a lot of prose. I just haven't published it.

As far as I'm concerned, being any gender is a drag.

I want to be around a really long time. I want to be a thorn in the side of everything as long as possible.

I know I'm a strong performer. I'm not an evolved musician.

If I have any regrets, I could say that I'm sorry I wasn't a better writer or a better singer.

Mohammed personally mapped out seven heavens. If he got to seven, you know there's more.