Well, I'm not one of those people who needs the limelight. If I'm performing, that's what I'm doing. If I'm not, I… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I watch a lot of crime shows. The head investigator always said to the crime solver, "What do you say?" And inevitably… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I wasn't a stranger to hard times. I used to read the Bible - well, I still do, but when I was… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
Sometimes you're doing really well, then, after three or four years, everything inexplicably crashes like a house of cards and you have… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
My parents were very well read. They were both New Englanders, not highly educated, but they had a sophisticated... they were both… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
I always thought my father [influenced me most] because he was so well read, I tried to model myself on him, but… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
When I was young, I knew William Burroughs really well. And William's secret desire, which he never quite did, was to write… — 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 Image
Sometimes [people] seem to think I came out of the womb, you know, cursing, with an electric guitar. — 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 closely to… — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
“I clawed through a thick web of the culture’s consciousness that I hadn’t known existed.” — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth. — Patti Smith Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image