Artist Quotes by Patti Smith

“I drew no line between life and art. I was the same on- as offstage.”

— Patti Smith

Artists are traditionally resistant to labels.

— Patti Smith

“Why commit to art? For self-realization, or for itself?”

— Patti Smith

A good artist's always got his hand in his zipper.

— Patti Smith

An artist wears his work in place of wounds.

— Patti Smith

Besides me wanting to be an artist, I wanted to be a movie star.

— Patti Smith

I'm an artist. I'm interested in how art gets made.

— Patti Smith

I had no proof that I had the stuff to be an artist, though I hungered to be one.

— Patti Smith

“Everything here is a small offense and not of value as art or confession. It is not a whim. It is an…

— Patti Smith

An artist may have burdens the ordinary citizen doesn't know, but the ordinary citizen has burdens that many artists never even touch.

— Patti Smith

No, my work does not reflect my sexual preferences, it reflects the fact that I feel total freedom as an artist.

— Patti Smith

The new artists coming through were very materialistic and Hollywood, not so engaged in communication.

— Patti Smith

“I preferred an artist who transformed his time, not mirrored it." - reference to Andy Warhol”

— Patti Smith

When I was a kid, I loved Sherlock Holmes. I'm not interested in crimes. I'm interested in the mind of the detective…

— Patti Smith

It will not fall away. Man cannot judge it. For art sings of God, and ultimately belongs to Him.

— Patti Smith

Trust is everything between two artists, or between subject and artist. You have to have trust or nothing good will come out…

— Patti Smith

My mission is to communicate, to wake people up, to give them my energy and accept theirs. We're all in it together,…

— Patti Smith

“I craved honesty, yet found dishonesty in myself. Why commit to art? For self-realization, or for itself? It seemed indulgent to add…

— 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…

— Patti Smith

I started resenting how much art robs from life. I'd go to a party and I couldn't enjoy myself, even sexually. All…

— Patti Smith

I'm certain, as we filled down the great staircase, that I appeared the same as ever, a moping twelve years-old, all arms…

— Patti Smith

Talking to god and coming back because that's what we have to do. That's your responsibility as a director, as an artist,…

— Patti Smith

I never had aspirations to go into politics or medicine. I always wanted to be an artist of some sort. I wasn't…

— Patti Smith

We were walking toward the fountain, the epicenter of activity, when an older couple stopped and openly observed us. Robert enjoyed being…

— Patti Smith

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

I don't have an image of myself, when I'm walking down the street, like I'm a rock star or something. I'm a…

— Patti Smith

“I escaped into daydreams as I did my piecework. I longed to enter the fraternity of the artist: the hunger, their manner…

— Patti Smith

I'm old-fashioned. I think William Blake and people in the Renaissance people were multi. Look at da Vinci, he was involved in…

— Patti Smith

The way our big cities change sucks. The beauty of cities was that they were edgy, sometimes even a little dangerous. Artists,…

— Patti Smith

...heroine: the artist, the premier mistress writhering in a garden graced w/highly polished blades of grass... release (ethiopium) is the drug...an animal…

— Patti Smith

Eyeing the traffic circulating the lobby hung with bad art. Big invasive stuff unloaded on Stanley Bard in exchange for rent. The…

— Patti Smith

Much has been said about Robert, and more will be added. Young men will adopt his gait. Young girls will wear white…

— Patti Smith

Art is by nature optimistic. Art is optimistic because it is alive.

— Patti Smith

“To be an artist is to enter into competition with god.”

— Patti Smith

As a citizen, hopefully I'm humanist. As an artist, I'm free.

— Patti Smith

In fact, I thought my calling was to be a painter.

— Patti Smith

When I was young, all I wanted was to write books and be an artist.

— Patti Smith

An artist is somebody who enters into competition with God.

— Patti Smith

Let's just say that I think any person who aspires, presumes, or feels the calling to be an artist has a built-in…

— Patti Smith

Lets just say that I think any person who aspires, presumes, or feels the calling to be an artist has a built-in…

— Patti Smith