Quotes By Patti Smith

I don't think the area of Jerusalem should be part of a Jewish state; it belongs to all people, to Christians and Muslims and the Jewish people.

Never let go of that fiery sadness called desire.

My father's mother was from Liverpool and she had this very beautiful English china. I only wanted to drink my cocoa out of my grandmother's cup and saucer.

When I was younger, I felt it was my duty to wake people up. I thought poetry was asleep. I thought rock 'n' roll was asleep.

No, my work does not reflect my sexual preferences, it reflects the fact that I feel total freedom as an artist.

From very early on in my childhood - four, five years old - I felt alien to the human race. I felt very comfortable with thinking I was from another planet, because I felt disconnected - I was very tall and skinny, and I didn't look like anybody else, I didn't even look like any member of my family.

People called me the godmother of punk, but I never name myself anything.

I wrote every day. I don't think I could have written 'Just Kids' had I not spent all of the 80s developing my craft as a writer.

C'mon, I mean who didn't listen to 'The Who' in the 60s?

I never thought I was gonna live to 30.

My sunglasses are like my guitar.

Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine.

The new artists coming through were very materialistic and Hollywood, not so engaged in communication.

Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand.

Usually when I go to a place for the first time, unless there's something historical or spectacular that nature has to offer, the first thing I like to do is see what's on the minds of the people.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

My mother answers all my fan mail.