Skip to content

Thinking Quotes by Ai Weiwei

55 Thinking quotes by Ai Weiwei

All Thinking quotes Ai Weiwei’s page

Ai Weiwei warns against double standards that separate art from reality and highlights how fear of government leads to self‑censorship. He says the state’s rigidity stems from its own insecurity, and he stresses that personal actions reveal the society we want.

Rate this collection: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

I don't think China has professional museums - not in the past, present, or near future.

Image

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

Image

I never think any place is better than others.

Image

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

Image

I think it's more important to show your work to the public.

Image

I think Allen [Ginsberg] was a person who's like a child.

Image

I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art.

Image

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

Image

I'm not a writer, but today I think you have to be everything. As an artist you have an obligation to let…

Image

In the end, I think, the state's rigidity is a function of its own insecurity, its indecisiveness.

Image

I don't think there is a distinct change, because in the West I'm not a person who can serve his purpose.

Image

I think optimism is whether you are still exhilarated by life, whether you are curious, whether you still believe there is possibility.

Image

I think of art as coming from daily life, daily experience. I think it's very important not to have it become work…

Image

I think we cannot have a double standard. We cannot see our art as different from the reality. We cannot use two…

Image

When human beings are scared and feel everything is exposed to the government, we will censor ourselves from free thinking. That's dangerous…

Image

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

Image

I think China is laughing about the results of the presidential elections. China, Russia, they all laugh about it. They see how…

Image

If we all say the same thing, then I think the government has to listen. But because no one is saying it,…

Image

I think I'm just a traveler. When you walk across a river and there's no bridge, you build one. I'm used to…

Image

I always thought that in modern history Chinese people are like a dish of sand, never really close together. But I think…

Image

The United States is a melting pot. Like John F. Kennedy said, it's a nation of immigrants. But Donald Trump wants to…

Image

You see so many people doing quite nice and respectful work, but nobody like Warhol. Warhol is outstanding. I think he has…

Image

I think Donald Trump should cool down a little bit. To pay more attention to the history. To really understand what U.S.'s…

Image

Of course, there [in China] has to be chaos. It has to be crazy, and I don't think there's anything wrong about…

Image

The deadly weapon against totalitarian society is openness - doing everything very openly on the Internet, letting people know every detail, any…

Image

I think to deal with the situation like human crisis, 65 million people being displaced, lost their home, and with such human…

Image

My definition of art has always been the same. It is about freedom of expression, a new way of communication. It is…

Image

Any individual can contribute its own belief. And our society or even our government are made by the people. The people would…

Image

I don't think I was very structured in that society and I don't really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe…

Image

I think the pearls - one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one…

Image

I don't personally feel any association with a kind of culture related to state, or culture related to power, which I think…

Image

I don't think it's worth discussing new directions in the context of Chinese art - there were no old directions, either. Chinese…

Image

I think by not letting young people be fully informed, how can they have energy and passion and the right picture of…

Image

I think art certainly is the vehicle for us to develop any new ideas, to be creative, to extend our imagination, to…

Image

I think by shattering it we can create a new form, a new way to look at what is valuable—how we decide…

Image

There's no single artwork I even want to mention or that I can even really think about it to have any feeling,…

Image

A lot of the time [in the U.S.], I was thinking about how spending time is always questionable or is always the…

Image

Art should live in the heart of the people. Ordinary people should have the same ability to understand art as anybody else.…

Image

I don't think [price] reflects if the work is good or bad.A good artist shouldn't be nervous about that.

Image

Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.

Image

Other authors on Thinking

More by Ai Weiwei

I'm totally independent. I don't bear any responsibility to any system.

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

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…

China has a rich history that has spanned millennia. It consists of the histories of many nations and regions.

This world should be much more open and should be much more free, so the young people would have the chance to exercise the…

By participating in the society we live in, we understand our conditions and the way we relate to the world.

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…

I curated this show [Shanghai Biennale ], I was by no means trying to shock people or be controversial.

I think we cannot have a double standard. We cannot see our art as different from the reality. We cannot use two different sets…

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…

Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions; in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world…

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

Our lives are bound by physical limits, familial ties, political conditions, and geographical restrictions. Individual freedom takes us beyond them all.

Now I've come to such a mixed culture: America, Europe, South America, Africa. And the politics are changing everywhere all the time and becoming…

I don't think it's worth discussing new directions in the context of Chinese art - there were no old directions, either. Chinese art has…