Patti Smith quotes - page 5

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. (Patti Smith)
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. View quote
Patti Smith
I was so unhealthy as a child, and at least three or four times my parents were told to get ready, that I would not make it. View quote
Patti Smith
I had a handful of records, but when I was 11 years old, I liked Puccini as much as Little Richard. They both made sense to me. View quote
Patti Smith
It's no secret - I love detective fiction. One of the reasons I love being in London is because I like to watch all the shows on TV. I watch them all. I like 'Detective Frost.' View quote
Patti Smith
My mother had no end of tragedy in her life. She would make herself get up and take a deep breath and go out and do laundry. Hang up sheets. View quote
Patti Smith
My parents were very well read. They were both New Englanders, not highly educated, but they had a sophisticated... they were both very humanistic, and they were sophisticated readers. View quote
Patti Smith
I don't think public life in and of itself can destroy you. I think it's the way people react to it, and some people are more sturdy than others... I don't think any one faction can be blamed for a person's self destruction - a certain amount of that has to be innate. View quote
Patti Smith
There are so many great 19th-century photographers, and it's really my favorite period, but the amateurs did such beautiful work. View quote
Patti Smith
Since childhood, it was my dream to go where all the poets and artists had been. Rimbaud, Artaud, Brancusi, Camus, Picasso, Bresson, Goddard, Jeanne Moreau, Juliette Greco, everybody - Paris for me was a Mecca. View quote
Patti Smith
The moment of creative impulse is what an artist gives you. You look at a Pollock, and it can't give you the tools to do a painting like that yourself, but in doing the work, Pollock shares with you the moment of creative impulse that drove him to do that work. (Patti Smith)
I was raised in rural south Jersey, and there was no culture there. There was a small library, and that was it. There was nothing else. View quote
Patti Smith
I was a lower middle-class kid. My family had no money. There was no room in our small house where there were already four kids, including myself, living. View quote
Patti Smith
I liked being on stage; I just didn't like the theatrical aspect of being in front of people. View quote
Patti Smith
You're not a rock n' roll person four hours a day or even when you're on stage. It's become the rhythm of your whole life. View quote
Patti Smith
Sometimes you're doing really well, then, after three or four years, everything inexplicably crashes like a house of cards and you have to rebuild it. It's not like you get to a point where you're all right for the rest of your life. View quote
Patti Smith
What I really like is an intelligent review. It doesn't have to be positive. A review that has some kind of insight, and sometimes people say something that's startling or is so poignant. View quote
Patti Smith
As far as I'm concerned, being any gender is a drag. View quote
Patti Smith
An artist wears his work in place of wounds. View quote
Patti Smith
As I grew up, one of my strongest allies has been my sister. View quote
Patti Smith
Polaroid by its nature makes you frugal. You walk around with maybe two packs of film in your pocket. You have 20 shots, so each shot is a world. (Patti Smith)
I've said this over and over, but I'll say it a million more times - I'm concerned more about the death of a bee than I am about terrorism. Because we're losing hives and bees by the millions because of such strong pesticides. View quote
Patti Smith
I learned a lot from Arthur Rimbaud. People talk about how he wanted to be a seer and do that through the derangement of the senses. What they forget was that he also advocated, sternly and austerely, that one must be able to go through all that - and then articulate it. View quote
Patti Smith
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. View quote
Patti Smith
The idea of redemption is always good news, even if it means sacrifice or some difficult times. View quote
Patti Smith