Banksy Quotes & Sayings

When you go to an art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires. — Banksy

I tell myself I use art to promote dissent, but maybe I am just using dissent to promote my art. I plead not guilty to selling out. But I plead it from a bigger house than I used to live in. — Banksy

Painting something that defies the law of the land is good. Painting something that defies the law of the land and the law of gravity at the same time is ideal. — Banksy

Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don't come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they're having a piss. — Banksy

Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was. — Banksy

Remember crime against property is not real crime. People look at an oil painting and admire the use of brushstrokes to convey meaning. People look at a graffiti painting and admire the use of a drainpipe to gain access. — Banksy

I don't know why people are so keen to put the details of their private life in public; they forget that invisibility is a superpower. — Banksy

People seem to think if they dress like a revolutionary they don't actually have to behave like one. — Banksy

You're advised not to drink the replica Arab spring water. — Banksy

I don't think you should have to pay to look at graffiti. You should only pay if you want to get rid of it, — Banksy

A wall is a very big weapon. It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with. — Banksy

The difference between freedom and slavery is one thin line — Banksy

I just wanna make the world a better-looking place. If you don't like it, you can paint over it! — Banksy

If you feel dirty, insignificant or unloved, then rats are a good role model. They exist without permission, they have no respect for the hierarchy of society, and they have sex 50 times a day. — Banksy

I wanted to highlight the destruction in Gaza by posting photos on my website - but on the internet people only look at pictures of kittens — Banksy

The grumpier you are, the more assholes you meet. — Banksy

If at first you don't succeed, Call an airstrike. — Banksy

Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can't even finish my second apple pie. — Banksy

You live in the city and all the time there are signs telling you what to do and billboards trying to sell you something. — Banksy

Art is not like other culture because its success is not made by its audience. The public fill concert halls and cinemas every day, we read novels by the millions, and buy records by the billions. 'We the people'
affect the making and quality of most of our culture, but not our art. — Banksy

Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else. — Banksy

As far as I can tell the only thing worth looking at in most museums of art is all the schoolgirls on daytrips with the art departments. — Banksy

All I know about what people think of my gear is what a couple of my friends tell me, and one of them always wants to borrow money, so I'm not sure how reliable he is. — Banksy

Live as a villain, die as a hero — Banksy

If you have a statue in the city centre you could go past it every day on your way to school and never even notice it, right. But as soon as someone puts a traffic cone on its head, you've made your own sculpture. — Banksy

Gaza is often described as 'the world's largest open air prison' because no one is allowed to enter or leave. But that seems a bit unfair to prisons - they don't have their electricity and drinking water cut off randomly almost everyday. — Banksy

We can't do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves, — Banksy

I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order to protect me. — Banksy

When he time comes to leave, just walk away quietly and don't make any fuss. — Banksy

I don't believe in anything. I'm just here for the violence. — Banksy

It's impossible to predict which paintings will last and which won't. In New Orleans I painted on a dilapidated shop in a street littered with abandoned cars and rotting mattresses, then two hours later the piece was gone. It turned out I'd picked the side of a crack house and the proprietor didn't like the attention. — Banksy

People who enjoy waving flags don't deserve to have one — Banksy

Once upon a time there was a bear and a bee who lived in a wood and were the best of friends. All summer long the bee collected nectar from morning to night while the bear lay on his back basking in the long grass. When winter came the bear realised he had nothing to eat and thought to himself 'I hope that busy little bee will share some of his honey with me.' But the bee was nowhere to be found - he had died of a stress induced coronary disease. — Banksy

Graffiti's always been a temporary art form. You make your mark and then they scrub it off. — Banksy

A lot of mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves. — Banksy

I think its pretty clear that film is the pre-eminent art form of our age. If Michaelangelo or Leonardo Da Vinci were alive today they'd be making Avatar, not painting a chapel. Film is incredibly democratic and accessible, it's probably the best option if you actually want to change the world, not just re-decorate it. — Banksy

It's great, I guess, when your paintings are hanging up in a museum. — Banksy

Some people represent authority without ever possessing any of their own. — Banksy

Be positive, patient and persistent. — Banksy

I've never really understood why people sleep. Wasting a third of your life and becoming vulnerable for almost 8 hours every night. Doesn't seem very appealing to me. — Banksy

If it doesn't matter, get rid of it.
If you can't get rid of it, it matters. — Banksy

In the future, everybody will be anonymous for 15 minutes. — Banksy

You owe the companies nothing. You especially don't owe them any courtesy. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs. — Banksy

My main problem with cops is that they do what they're told. They say 'Sorry mate, I'm just doing my job' all the fucking time. — Banksy

Policemen and security guards wear hats with a peak that comes down low over their eyes. Apparently this is for psychological reasons. Eyebrows are very expressive and you appear a lot more authoritative if you keep them covered up. The advantage of this is that it makes a lot harder for cops to see anything more than six foot off the ground. Which is why painting rooftops and bridges is so easy. — Banksy

The bad artists imitate, the great artists steal, — Banksy

I am unable to comment on who may or may not be Banksy, but anyone described as being 'good at drawing' doesn't sound like Banksy to me. — Banksy

Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a fucking sharp knife to it. — Banksy

I used to tell everyone I met to be an artist ... I don't do that any more. — Banksy

You're mind is working at its best when you're being paranoid.
You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation
at high speed with total clarity. — Banksy

You ask a lot of little kids today what they want to be when they grow up and they say "I want to be famous." You ask them for what reason and they don't know or care. I think Andy Warhol got it wrong: in the future so many people are going to become famous that one day everybody will end up being anonymous for fifteen minutes. — Banksy

Fight the fighters, not their wars. — Banksy

A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to. — Banksy

Today's art has been cancelled due to police activity. — Banksy

I like to think I have the guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no-one else believes in - like peace and justice and freedom. — Banksy

The art world is the biggest joke going. It's a rest home for the overprivileged, the pretentious, and the weak. — Banksy

Stencils are good for two reasons; one - they're quick; two - they annoy idiots — Banksy

People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you're not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. — Banksy

My lawyer's opinion is that the cops might not actually be able to charge me with criminal damage any more - because theoretically my graffiti actually increases the value of property rather than decreasing it. That's his theory, but then my lawyer also believes wearing novelty cartoon ties is a good look. — Banksy

I figure there are enough self-opinionated assholes trying to get their ugly little faces in front of you as it is. You ask a lot of kids today what they want to be when they grow up, and they say, 'I want to be famous.' You ask them, 'For what reason?' and they don't know or care. I think Andy Warhol got it wrong - in the future, so many people are going to become famous that one day everybody will end up being anonymous for 15 minutes. — Banksy

Traditional graffiti writers have a bunch of rules they like to stick to, and good luck to them, but I didn't become a graffiti artist so I could have somebody else tell me what to do. If you're the type who gets sentimental about people scribbling over your stuff, I suggest graffiti is probably not the right hobby for you. — Banksy

The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Any fame is a by-product of making something that means something. You don't go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a shit. — Banksy

Should graffiti be judged on the same level as modern art? Of course not: It's way more important than that. — Banksy

Nothing is black and white, and there is no purity and there is no such thing has justice. — Banksy

I could sit in a pub and tell you all the things that are written in this book but you wouldn't fucking listen. — Banksy

Bus stops are far more interesting and useful places to have art than in museums. Graffiti has more chance of meaning something or changing stuff than anything indoors. Graffiti has been used to start revolutions, stop wars, and generally is the voice of people who aren't listened to. Graffiti is one of those few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don't come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make somebody smile while they're having a piss. — Banksy

People who get up early in the morning cause war, death and famine. — Banksy

Speak softly, but carry a big can of paint. — Banksy

One Original Thought is worth 1000 Meaningless Quotes. — Banksy

People are fond of using military terms to describe what they do. We call it bombing when we go out painting, when of course it's more like entertaining the troops in a neutral zone, during peacetime in a country without an army. — Banksy

The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages. — Banksy

Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent, leave the house before you find something worth staying in for. — Banksy

I have no interest in ever coming out. I'm just trying to make the pictures look good; I'm not into trying to make myself look good. And besides, it's a pretty safe bet that the reality of me would be a crushing disappointment to a couple of 15-year-old kids out there. — Banksy

If Michaelangelo or Leonardo Da Vinci were alive today they'd be making Avatar, not painting a chapel. — Banksy

I want to live in a world created by art, not just decorated with it — Banksy

You don't need planning permission to build castles in the sky — Banksy

People either love me or they hate me, or they don't really care. — Banksy

All artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared
to learn to draw? — Banksy

I started painting graffiti in the classic New York style of big letters and characters but I was never very good at it. — Banksy

Some people criticize me for using sources that are a bit low brow (this quote is from 'Gladiator') but you know what? 'I'm just going to use that hostility to make me stronger, not weaker' as Kelly Rowland said on the X Factor, — Banksy

The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists.. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little. — Banksy

Anyone who believes in capital punishment should be shot — Banksy

T.V. has made going to the theatre seem pointless, photography has pretty much killed painting but graffiti has remained gloriously unspoilt by progress. — Banksy

It's a very frustrated feeling you get when the only people with good photos of you work are the police department. — Banksy

I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time. — Banksy

I don't know if street art ever really works indoors. If you domesticate an animal, it goes from being wild and free to sterile, fat and sleepy. So maybe the art should stay outside. — Banksy

If you don't own a train company then you go and paint on one instead ... it all comes from that thing at school when you had to have name tags in the back of something ... that makes it belong to you. You can own half the city by scribbling your name over it. — Banksy

All graffiti is low-level dissent, but stencils have an extra history. They've been used to start revolutions and to stop wars. — Banksy

I sucked a lot of breasts to get where I am today. — Banksy

A recent survey or North American males found 42% were overweight, 34% were critically obese and 8% ate the survey. — Banksy

Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. — Banksy

Not everyone will understand your journey. That's okay. You're here to live your life, not to make everyone understand. — Banksy

There are four basic human needs; food, sleep, sex and revenge. — Banksy

Graffiti ultimately wins out over proper art because it becomes part of your city, it' s a tool; "I'll meet you in that pub, you know, the one opposite that wall with a picture of a monkey holding a chainsaw". I mean, how much more useful can a painting be than that? — Banksy

I give away thousands of paintings for free. — Banksy

The one thing you can rely on is if you get disturbed halfway through a painting and it looks a bit naff, then someone will preserve that piece, remove it and a few months later it'll be paraded round Sotheby's by people wearing white gloves. — Banksy

Nobody knows what you feel inside unless you tell them. — Banksy

If you want to say something and have people listen then you have to
wear a mask. If you want to be honest then you have to live a lie. — Banksy

If you want someone to be ignored then build a life-size bronze statue of them and stick it in the middle of town. It doesn't matter how great you were, it'll always take an unfunny drunk with climbing skills to make people notice you. — Banksy

At this time of year it's easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity - the lies, the corruption, the abuse. — Banksy