Ai Weiwei Quotes & Sayings

A small act is worth a million thoughts. — Ai Weiwei

We have to give our opinion, we have to say something, or we are a part of it. As an artist I am forced to say something. — Ai Weiwei

I have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is okay, to speak out. — Ai Weiwei

Because of the economic crisis, China and the United States are bound together. This is a totally new phenomenon, and nobody will fight for ideology anymore. It's all about business. — Ai Weiwei

China has not established the rule of law and if there is a power above the law there is no social justice. Everybody can be subjected to harm. I'm just a citizen: my life is equal in value to any other. But I'm thankful that when I lost my freedom so many people shared feelings and put such touching effort into helping me. — Ai Weiwei

New York is a city where you're so alone, you're an individual, you can disappear. You can make something happen. But it's very different to make something happen in the art world. — Ai Weiwei

Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what's on his mind. A fairy tale has come true. — Ai Weiwei

Measuring national prestige by gold medals is like using Viagra to judge the potency of a man. — Ai Weiwei

We should leave behind discrimination, because it is narrow-minded and ignorant, denies contact and warmth, and corrodes mankind's belief that we can better ourselves. The only way to avoid misunderstanding, war, and bloodshed is to defend freedom of expression and to communicate with sincerity, concern, and good intentions. — Ai Weiwei

The American experience influenced my understanding of individuality, basic human rights, freedom of expression and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. — Ai Weiwei

A historical property has morals and ethics of the society that created it and it can be revived. What I mean is that we can discover new possibilities from the process of dismantling, transforming, and recreating. — Ai Weiwei

The 'Bird's Nest' National Stadium, which I helped to conceive, is designed to embody the Olympic spirit of 'fair competition.' It tells people that freedom is possible but needs fairness, courage and strength. — Ai Weiwei

I think Chinese leadership is trying to tell the world they have another set of logic or reasoning or values which are different from yours. Of course, I don't think they believe that. It's just an argument that's made when you can't confront the truth and facts. They really want to maintain power. — Ai Weiwei

Now the British are coming. I think Cameron should ask the Chinese government not to make people 'disappear' or to jail them merely because they have different opinions. — Ai Weiwei

Liberty is about our rights to question everything. — Ai Weiwei

I think it's a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power. — Ai Weiwei

For me, it is OK as long as I can breathe, as long as my heart is pumping, as long as I can express myself. — Ai Weiwei

People are always wondering if I am an artist or political activist or politician. Maybe I'll just clearly tell you: Whatever I do is not art. Let's say it is just objects or materials, movies or writing, but not art, OK? — Ai Weiwei

The purpose of art is the fight for freedom, — Ai Weiwei

The Internet is uncontrollable. And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It's as simple as that. — Ai Weiwei

You need a purpose to express yourself, but that expression is its own purpose. — Ai Weiwei

The Olympic Games are highly commercialised. They purport to follow the traditions of an ancient athletics competition, but today it is the commercial aspect that is most apparent. I have seen how, through sport, cities and corporations compete against each other for financial gain. — Ai Weiwei

Art is always about overcoming obstacles between the inner condition and the skill for expression. — Ai Weiwei

If Shakespeare were alive today, he might be writing on Twitter. — Ai Weiwei

China and the U.S. are two societies with very different attitudes towards opinion and criticism. In China, I am constantly under surveillance. Even my slightest, most innocuous move can - and often is - censored by Chinese authorities. — Ai Weiwei

Censorship is saying: 'I'm the one who says the last sentence. Whatever you say, the conclusion is mine.' But the internet is like a tree that is growing. The people will always have the last word - even if someone has a very weak, quiet voice. Such power will collapse because of a whisper. — Ai Weiwei

For all the tough talk about China during the presidential debates, Romney and Obama evaded any mention of China's suspect human rights record, corruption, and rule of law. By not tackling these controversial topics, the candidates are protecting a strategic partnership with China at the expense of essential human values and beliefs. — Ai Weiwei

I'm not a writer, but today I think you have to be everything. As an artist you have an obligation to let people know what is on your mind and why you're doing this. — Ai Weiwei

I always want people to be confused, to be shocked or realize something later. — Ai Weiwei

Photographs are facts, but not necessarily true ... The present always surpasses the past, and the future will not care about today. — Ai Weiwei

I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it's all we need. — Ai Weiwei

Warhol influenced me because of his writing. If I had never read his writings and interviews, I would never have understood his work. — Ai Weiwei

So maybe there are three parts in my life - earlier background living in exile in Xinjiang in a very political circumstance, then later the United States from 24 to 36 years old. I was quite equipped with liberal thinking. Then the Internet. If there is no Internet, of course, I cannot really exercise my opinion or my ideas. — Ai Weiwei

Once you've tasted freedom, it stays in your heart and no one can take it. Then, you can be more powerful than a whole country. — Ai Weiwei

Twitter is most suitable for me. In the Chinese language, 140 characters is a novella, — Ai Weiwei

There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship. — Ai Weiwei

Because Great Britain has self-confidence, it doesn't need a monumental Olympics. — Ai Weiwei

Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught. — Ai Weiwei

This nation is notorious for its ability to make or fake anything cheaply. 'Made-in-China' goods now fill homes around the world. But our giant country has a small problem. We can't manufacture the happiness of our people. — Ai Weiwei

Since the global economic crisis began, the change in global attitudes is clear to see - and I think it is pitiful. Barack Obama came to China and he is probably the only president of the United States never to mention the words 'human rights' in public. — Ai Weiwei

Overturning police cars is a super-intense workout. It's probably the only sport I enjoy. — Ai Weiwei

I remember one little rainy day I went searching for this apartment and I saw so many people standing on a stoop on the corner in the rain. Later I realized, that was drug traffic. They were all buying drugs. — Ai Weiwei

Mass production is nothing new. Weren't cathedrals built through mass production? The pyramids? ... Paintings can be painted with the left hand, the right hand, someone else's hand, or many people's hands. The scale of production is irrelevant to its content. — Ai Weiwei

I want people to see their own power. — Ai Weiwei

Art needs to stand for something. — Ai Weiwei

To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is the reason. — Ai Weiwei

Creativity is the power to act. — Ai Weiwei

If a nation cannot face its past, it has no future. — Ai Weiwei

Democracy, material wealth, and universal education are the soil upon which modernism exists. — Ai Weiwei

Recently I danced in a video spoof of the song 'Gangnam Style,' and it was quickly banned across multiple Chinese online video platforms. But the story still traveled all over the world, carried in hundreds of international media reports. — Ai Weiwei

Historically, China is not a nation of sportsmen. We traditionally put more emphasis on being close to nature than pushing endlessly to excel. A philosophy that values tranquil contemplation of the landscape cannot easily be adapted to the Olympic slogan of 'higher, stronger, faster.' — Ai Weiwei

Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be. — Ai Weiwei

These are nonviolent people who have lost their freedom simply because they expressed their ideas ... In truth, they are heroes of our time. — Ai Weiwei

I have to find a place for my own. I have to search for my own happiness. — Ai Weiwei

Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward. — Ai Weiwei

I don't believe in the so-called Olympic spirit. I speak from personal experience. When China hosted the Games, it failed to include the people. The event was constructed without regard for their joy. — Ai Weiwei

Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been sentenced not once but sometimes three times after they come out. They serve five or six years, come out another time, and then nine years. Come out again, 12 years. Only because they have a different opinion. They are innocent people, they have beautiful minds, beautiful hearts. — Ai Weiwei

No outdoor sports can be more elegant than throwing stones at autocracy; no melees can be more exciting than those in cyberspace. — Ai Weiwei

My image of what a city should be - the super-rich and all the poor and desperate and the people who have some kind of a desire. It's a surviving game, people trying to survive on many different levels. — Ai Weiwei

All the auction houses care about is the selling of luxury goods. — Ai Weiwei

I'm a free man now, except I cannot leave China. You know, I have no desire to travel. I have so many things to do; I cannot finish them now. — Ai Weiwei

It became like a symbolic thing, to be "an artist." After Duchamp, I realized that being an artist is more about a lifestyle and attitude than producing some product. — Ai Weiwei

The world is a sphere, there is no East or West. — Ai Weiwei

I think by not letting young people be fully informed, how can they have energy and passion and the right picture of the world? I think that's the true crime. — Ai Weiwei

I think art is a very important weapon to achieve human freedom — Ai Weiwei

Creativity is the power to reject the past, to change the status quo, and to seek new potential. Simply put, aside from using one's imagination - perhaps more importantly - creativity is the power to act. — Ai Weiwei

Twitter is the people's tool, the tool of the ordinary people, people who have no other resources. — Ai Weiwei

Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition. — Ai Weiwei

Whenever there is injustice, there is tension. But in China it is very hard to release your anger unless you burn yourself or you jump from a bridge. In a society where there is no freedom of the press, it is difficult for victims to be noticed. — Ai Weiwei

Everyone of us is a potential convict. — Ai Weiwei

I was in the most restricted prison in China, the most tough. The design of the prison is modeled for internal crimes of the Communist party, so it's like a mafia family's law. It's independent to the law this nation openly applies. It's the place they take you before they give you over to the judicial system. You stay there for a year or two and they make you really suffer to confess everything. — Ai Weiwei

The people who control culture in China have no culture. — Ai Weiwei

To survive, China had to open up to the West. It could not survive otherwise. This was after many millions have died of hunger in a country that was like North Korea is today. Once we became part of global competition, we had to agree to some rules. It's painful, but we had to. Otherwise there was no way to survive. — Ai Weiwei

If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for? — Ai Weiwei

If you don't act, the danger becomes stronger. — Ai Weiwei

Police in China can do whatever they want; after 81 days in arbitrary detention you clearly realise that they don't have to obey their own laws. In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want - not only you, your whole family and all people like you. — Ai Weiwei

A city is a place that can offer maximum freedom. Otherwise it's incomplete. — Ai Weiwei

Of course, most luxury goods in China are for corrupted officials and their relatives. And that made China become the biggest luxury-goods market. In this kind of dictatorship, in this kind of totalitarian society, it is easy to make deals that you cannot make in a democratic society. — Ai Weiwei

Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it. — Ai Weiwei

I think art certainly is the vehicle for us to develop any new ideas, to be creative, to extend our imagination, to change the current conditions. — Ai Weiwei

If civil society has nobody who protects the law, then what kind of society is that? — Ai Weiwei

As a human being, member of society, you must clearly state your mind. It's a responsibility. It is the way you identify yourself otherwise you don't know who you are and why you are here. — Ai Weiwei

The Chinese art world does not exist. In a society that restricts individual freedoms and violates human rights, anything that calls itself creative or independent is a pretence. It is impossible for a totalitarian society to create anything with passion and imagination. — Ai Weiwei

Every day I'm learning something new from the practice. It's very rewarding. — Ai Weiwei

It's always nice to share your energy with young people, the people who might not have any skills but are simply willing to be a part of it. — Ai Weiwei

The tragic reality of today is reflected in the true plight of our spiritual existence. We are spineless and cannot stand straight. — Ai Weiwei

Individual; that means he has his own special way to communicate, which creates the form of him. In the information age, this expression and communication has become so different. — Ai Weiwei

It doesn't matter where I am - China will stay in me. I don't know how far I can still walk on this road and what is the limit. — Ai Weiwei

I always want to design a frame that's open to everyone. I don't see art as a secret code. — Ai Weiwei

I see the Beijing National Stadium as an architectural project. I accepted Herzog and De Meuron's invitation to collaborate on the design, and our proposal won the competition. From beginning to end, I stayed with the project. I am committed to fostering relationships between a city and its architecture. — Ai Weiwei

To the media, I have become a symbolic figure, critical of China. According to the government, I am a dangerous threat. — Ai Weiwei

Life is much more interesting when you make a little bit of effort. — Ai Weiwei

I'm most embarrassed at my art shows, even though I don't show it. — Ai Weiwei

Twitter was like a poem. It was rich, real and spontaneous. It really fit my style. In a year and a half, I tweeted 60,000 tweets, over 100,000 words. I spent a minimum eight hours a day on it, sometimes 24 hours. — Ai Weiwei

The media is the message. It carries the full intention and the meaning. Once you change it ... it's very disturbing. — Ai Weiwei

Anyone fighting for freedom does not want to totally lose their freedom. — Ai Weiwei

I'm always followed by two or three cars and have police around. Even walking in the park, you see them taking photos behind the bushes and trying to videotape everything. — Ai Weiwei

I don't want the next generation to fight the same fight as I did. — Ai Weiwei

We see the tendency in the world to criticise democracy and sometimes even to say that authoritarian countries like China are more efficient. That is very short-sighted. China looks efficient only because it can sacrifice most people's rights. This is not something the west should be happy about. — Ai Weiwei

Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things; it is no longer so much about producing something. — Ai Weiwei