Patti Smith

• "We tried not to age, but time had its rage.“
• "In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.“
• "I'm not saying I wasn't flawed or amateurish. But you can never say I did anything to appease the music business.“
• "I don't think the Palestinian people or Afghan children or some other things I'm concerned about are at the top of other people's agendas - not right now, when America is going through such a recession and people are suffering across the board financially. But I think all that will change.“
• "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.“
• "The new artists coming through were very materialistic and Hollywood, not so engaged in communication.“
• "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.“
• "To me, punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who you are. It's freedom.“
• "No, my work does not reflect my sexual preferences, it reflects the fact that I feel total freedom as an artist.“
• "The idea of redemption is always good news, even if it means sacrifice or some difficult times.“
• "Good news doesn't necessarily have to be a positive thing. Bringing good news is imparting hope to one's fellow man.“
• "My mom loved rock 'n roll. My father hated it. We couldn't play it when he was around.“
• "I'm not saying I wasn't flawed or amateurish. But you can never say I did anything to appease the music business.“
• "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.“
• "I came into music because I thought the presentation of poetry wasn't vibrant enough. So I merged improvised poetry with basic rock chords.“
• "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.“
• "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.“
• "Good news doesn't necessarily have to be a positive thing. Bringing good news is imparting hope to one's fellow man.“
• "Then I read Little Women, and of course, like a lot of really young girls, I was very taken with Jo - Jo being the writer and the misfit.“

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