My style of performance poetry came from the beatniks, Allen Ginsberg. — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
“So be we king or be we bum the reed still whistles the heart still hums” — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I always wrote like rock 'n' roll. And I always listen to rock 'n' roll as poetry. — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
After writing all day I go for a walk and see a piece of architecture i want to photograph and i have… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I'd try to write my poems in a certain rhythm. I had my rock 'n' roll stuff for performing and my denser… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
Vowels are the most illuminated letters in the alphabet. Vowels are the colors and souls of poetry and speech. (1976 Penthouse interview) — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I came into music because I thought the presentation of poetry wasn't vibrant enough. So I merged improvised poetry with basic rock… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
“Everything here is a small offense and not of value as art or confession. It is not a whim. It is an… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
What I wanted to do in rock 'n roll was merge poetry with sonic scapes, and the two people who had contributed… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I was so used to doing art that my fingers were like albino spiders. So it was just natural for me to… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I never felt oppressed because of my gender. When I'm writing a poem or drawing, I'm not a female; I'm an artist. — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
Since childhood, it was my dream to go where all the poets and artists had been. Rimbaud, Artaud, Brancusi, Camus, Picasso, Bresson,… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I always hesitate when people call me a musician.I have had no musical training. I can't play anything. I really think of… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
“The light poured through the windows upon his photographs and the poem of us sitting together a last time. Robert dying: creating… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
Poetry is a solitary process. One does not write poetry for the masses. Poetry is a self-involved, lofty pursuit. Songs are for… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I didn't love Jim Morrison 'cause he was self-destructive. I loved him because of his work. Because of the way he merged… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
“Inside it he inscribed a few lines of poetry, portraying us as the gypsy and the fool, one creating silence; one listening… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I'm not really a musician. I'm a performer, and I love rock n' roll. I've embraced rock n' roll because it encompasses… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I've embraced rock 'n' roll because it encompasses all the things I'm interested in: poetry, revolution, sexuality, political activism - all of… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
Yet you could feel a vibration in the air, a sense of hastening. It had started with the moon, inaccessible poem that… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
If I have any regrets, I could say that I'm sorry I wasn't a better writer or a better singer...When I was… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
“...slowly I discerned a familiar shift in my concentration. That compulsion that prohibits me from completely surrendering to a work of art,… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
The bible is very resonant. It has everything, creation, betrayal, lust, poetry, prophecy, sacrifice. All great things are in the bible and… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
As an artist, I never wanted to be fettered by gender nor recognized or defined as a female poet, musician or singer.… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
“Now, I can tell you about some women writers who truly are fantastic. One is Anna Kavan. She writes stories like I… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
The hand above turns those leaves of loves, all in all a timeless view. Each dream of life flung from paradise everlasting,… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I always wanted to be an artist, writer and poet since I was seven, and one has to live long enough to… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
We believe we will raise the sky, we got to fly over the land, over the sea. Fate unwinds and if we… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
When I was younger, I felt it was my duty to wake people up. I thought poetry was asleep. I thought rock… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
The Bible is very resonant. It has everything: creation, betrayal, lust, poetry, prophecy, sacrifice. All great things are in the Bible, and… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
“I understood that what matters is the work: the string of words propelled by God becoming a poem, the weave of color… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I wanted to remember the original energy; strip away all the glamour and limousines and tons of drugs. I wanted to get… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
“Everything comes down so pasteurized everything comes down 16 degrees they say your amplifier is too loud turn your amplifier down are… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I remember when you were born, it was dawn and the storm settled near my belly. And I rolled in the grass… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
Why do people want to know exactly who I am? Am I a poet? Am I this or that? I've always made… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
That's what artists do, that's what poets do - we all do it. We start with something, and sometimes we destroy everything… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I had a really happy childhood - my siblings were great, my mother was very fanciful, and I loved to read. But there was… — Patti Smith Copy Share
Sometimes [people] seem to think I came out of the womb, you know, cursing, with an electric guitar. — Patti Smith Copy Share
“Inside it he inscribed a few lines of poetry, portraying us as the gypsy and the fool, one creating silence; one listening closely to… — Patti Smith Copy Share
“I clawed through a thick web of the culture’s consciousness that I hadn’t known existed.” — Patti Smith Copy Share
Ultimately, we are not seeking others to bow to, but to reinforce our individual natures, to help us suffer our own choices, to guide… — Patti Smith Copy Share
If I'm taking a picture of Brancusi's grave, I know that there's something of him, of his mortal remains, beneath my feet, and there's… — Patti Smith Copy Share
I'm certain, as we filled down the great staircase, that I appeared the same as ever, a moping twelve years-old, all arms and legs.… — Patti Smith Copy Share
In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth. — Patti Smith Copy Share
New York is the thing that seduced me. New York is the thing that formed me. New York is the thing that deformed me.… — Patti Smith Copy Share
I don't wanna be equal with anybody. I wanna be above equal. I don't think most people are equal to me. I'd like to… — Patti Smith Copy Share
Somehow I started introducing writing into my drawings, and after a time, the language took over and I started getting very involved with the… — Patti Smith Copy Share
I'm okay with roaming around the world in my bunk for days on end. Maybe every third day I'll get a shower or stumble… — Patti Smith Copy Share
