--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Many people I know - writers, poets…" description: "\"Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been sentenced not once but sometimes three times after they come out. They serve five or six years..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06d/ai-weiwei-824_another-time_many-people-i-know-writers-poets-they-ha_646609.jpg" --- # Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been… ![“Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been sentenced not once but sometimes three times after they come out. They serve five or six years, come out another time, and then nine years. Come out again, 12 years. Only because they have a different opinion. They are innocent people, they…” quote by Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06d/ai-weiwei-824_another-time_many-people-i-know-writers-poets-they-ha_646609.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06d/ai-weiwei-824_another-time_many-people-i-know-writers-poets-they-ha_646609.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/06d/ai-weiwei-824_another-time_many-people-i-know-writers-poets-they-ha_646609.jpg) > “Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been sentenced not once but sometimes three times after they come out. They serve five or six years, come out another time, and then nine years. Come out again, 12 years. Only because they have a different opinion. They are innocent people, they have beautiful minds, beautiful hearts.” [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Oppression silences dissent, yet repeated imprisonment shows the resilience of truth‑seeking voices. **In simple terms:** Repeated imprisonment reveals resilient truth‑seekers. Key Takeaway Support free expression, resist censorship. Themes censorship human rights resilience artistic freedom Mood defiant hopeful Type political inspirational When to use this quote - journalism - activist art - legal advocacy - public awareness campaigns Key Concepts authoritarianism political imprisonment creative resistance Questions to Reflect On - What fuels your resolve under oppression? - How can societies protect dissenting voices? A Different Perspective Risk of martyrdom or backlash against activists. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Another time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/another-time/) [Beautiful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful/) [Beautiful heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful-heart/) [Beautiful mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beautiful-mind/) [Different](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different/) [Different opinions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different-opinions/) [Five](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/five/) [Heart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart/) [Innocent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocent/) [Innocent people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocent-people/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Nine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nine/) [Nine years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nine-years/) [Opinion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opinion/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Poets Sentenced](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poets-sentenced-5180838/) [Prison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prison/) [Sentenced](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentenced/) [Sentenced Times](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sentenced-times-5180837/) [Serve Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/serve-years-4010907/) [Six](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/six/) [Sometimes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sometimes/) [Three](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/three/) [Three times](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/three-times/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) ## Related quotes > [“Make a change today that will serve you for many more years.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emilie-barnes/make-a-change-today-that-will-serve-you-for-many-more-years/) [Emilie Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emilie-barnes/) > [No man, however strong, can serve ten years as schoolmaster, priest, or Senator, and remain fit for anything else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/no-man-however-strong-can-serve-ten-years-as-schoolmaster-priest-or-2/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [No man, however strong, can serve ten years as schoolmaster, priest, or Senator, and remain fit for anything else. All the dogmatic stations in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/no-man-however-strong-can-serve-ten-years-as-schoolmaster-priest-or/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) > [Now the British are coming. I think Cameron should ask the Chinese government not to make people 'disappear' or to jail them merely because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/now-the-british-are-coming-i-think-cameron-should-ask-the-chinese/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [The whole attitude of society has become much more open and realistic. They realize that the only way to make a more democratic and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/the-whole-attitude-of-society-has-become-much-more-open-and-realistic/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [We are all sentenced to capital punishment for the crime of living, and though the condemned cell of our earthly existence is but a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/we-are-all-sentenced-to-capital-punishment-for-the-crime-of-living/) [Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/) > [The unteachable man is sentenced to being taught only by experience. The tragedy is he reaches nothing further than his own pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criss-jami/the-unteachable-man-is-sentenced-to-being-taught-only-by-experience/) [Criss Jami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criss-jami/) > [I was sentenced to life plus 30 years by an all-White jury. What I saw in prison was wall-to-wall Black flesh in chains. Women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/assata-shakur/i-was-sentenced-to-life-plus-30-years-by-an-all-white-jury-what-i-saw/) [Assata Shakur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/assata-shakur/) > [It took me three and a half years to go from being sentenced in federal court to going to the Oscars.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-bloom/it-took-me-three-and-a-half-years-to-go-from-being-sentenced-in/) [Molly Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-bloom/) > [“I once knew a fellow who committed robbery with violence, and he was sentenced to a long prison stretch and 12 strokes of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-o-toole/i-once-knew-a-fellow-who-committed-robbery-with-violence-and-he-was/) [Peter O'Toole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-o-toole/) > [Sometimes life seems like a poorly designed cage within which man has been sentenced to be free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-b-kopp/sometimes-life-seems-like-a-poorly-designed-cage-within-which-man-has/) [Sheldon B. Kopp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-b-kopp/) > [“One wrong move, one bad rumor, one mistake, and it's social death row. I'm the latest to be sentenced. Move out of the way,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dawn-klehr/one-wrong-move-one-bad-rumor-one-mistake-and-it-s-social-death-row-i/) [Dawn Klehr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dawn-klehr/) > [We're all of us sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tennessee-williams/we-re-all-of-us-sentenced-to-solitary-confinement-inside-our-own/) [Tennessee Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tennessee-williams/) > [“Punishment was collective: judges sentenced not just the guilty individual but also family members, neighbors, and community leaders.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/punishment-was-collective-judges-sentenced-not-just-the-guilty/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I've been impressed by the extent to which one gets sentenced by one's own sentences. One explores certain things in play and then in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-o-brown/i-ve-been-impressed-by-the-extent-to-which-one-gets-sentenced-by-one/) [Norman O. Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-o-brown/) ## More by Ai Weiwei > [I'm totally independent. I don't bear any responsibility to any system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/i-m-totally-independent-i-don-t-bear-any-responsibility-to-any-system/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [If my art has nothing to do with people's pain and sorrow, what is 'art' for?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/if-my-art-has-nothing-to-do-with-people-s-pain-and-sorrow-what-is-art/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/police-in-china-can-do-whatever-they-want-after-81-days-in-arbitrary/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [China has a rich history that has spanned millennia. It consists of the histories of many nations and regions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/china-has-a-rich-history-that-has-spanned-millennia-it-consists-of/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [This world should be much more open and should be much more free, so the young people would have the chance to exercise the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/this-world-should-be-much-more-open-and-should-be-much-more-free-so/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [By participating in the society we live in, we understand our conditions and the way we relate to the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/by-participating-in-the-society-we-live-in-we-understand-our/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/i-see-the-beijing-national-stadium-as-an-architectural-project-i/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [ I curated this show \[Shanghai Biennale \], I was by no means trying to shock people or be controversial. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/i-curated-this-show-shanghai-biennale-i-was-by-no-means-trying-to/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [I think we cannot have a double standard. We cannot see our art as different from the reality. We cannot use two different sets…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/i-think-we-cannot-have-a-double-standard-we-cannot-see-our-art-as/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/it-doesn-t-matter-where-i-am-china-will-stay-in-me-i-don-t-know-how/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions; in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/chinese-citizens-have-never-had-the-right-to-really-express-their/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/your-own-acts-tell-the-world-who-you-are-and-what-kind-of-society-you/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [Our lives are bound by physical limits, familial ties, political conditions, and geographical restrictions. Individual freedom takes us beyond them all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/our-lives-are-bound-by-physical-limits-familial-ties-political/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/now-i-ve-come-to-such-a-mixed-culture-america-europe-south-america/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/i-don-t-think-it-s-worth-discussing-new-directions-in-the-context-of/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) [Explore all 359 Ai Weiwei quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) ## More Another time quotes > [A very small percentage of the people in this world will actually experience and live today. So many people will be stuck on another…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-maraboli/a-very-small-percentage-of-the-people-in-this-world-will-actually/) [Steve Maraboli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-maraboli/) > [You know what really made me sick? I was in Washington, D.C. at another time reading in a paper where the U.S. gives Byron…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/you-know-what-really-made-me-sick-i-was-in-washington-d-c-at-another/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [I would’ve liked to have been Poussin, if I’d had a choice, in another time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cy-twombly/i-would-ve-liked-to-have-been-poussin-if-i-d-had-a-choice-in-another/) [Cy Twombly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cy-twombly/) > [I saw Len Hutton in his prime, Another time, another time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-pinter/i-saw-len-hutton-in-his-prime-another-time-another-time/) [Harold Pinter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-pinter/) > [Nobody can ask me more when I try all my best all the time, no? So, you know, if I lose another time in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rafael-nadal/nobody-can-ask-me-more-when-i-try-all-my-best-all-the-time-no-so-you/) [Rafael Nadal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rafael-nadal/) > [I think labels for the most part want to sign new discoveries so that that label alone is seen to be responsible for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-morrissey/i-think-labels-for-the-most-part-want-to-sign-new-discoveries-so-that/) [Steven Morrissey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-morrissey/) > [“Another time, twice, in fact, I tried hard to be in love. I suffered, too, gentlemen, I assure you. In the depth of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/another-time-twice-in-fact-i-tried-hard-to-be-in-love-i-suffered-too/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [Sometimes I think my past life was unrealized. I met a tragic end - it might have been a car over a cliff. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-ebersole/sometimes-i-think-my-past-life-was-unrealized-i-met-a-tragic-end-it/) [Christine Ebersole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-ebersole/) > [Music should be like making love. Sometimes you want it soft and tender, another time you want it hard and aggressive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-buckley/music-should-be-like-making-love-sometimes-you-want-it-soft-and/) [Jeff Buckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-buckley/) > [“I have something very important to say to you, but I can't tell you what it is. It's a very important thing, but I'll…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rhona-cameron/i-have-something-very-important-to-say-to-you-but-i-can-t-tell-you/) [Rhona Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rhona-cameron/) > [“These elusive memories, appear out of nowhere like a portal to our past, from deep within the passages of our minds. They rise to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arlene-stafford-wilson/these-elusive-memories-appear-out-of-nowhere-like-a-portal-to-our/) [Arlene Stafford-Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arlene-stafford-wilson/) > [“what was the point in creating something that was so futile and so precious? everything beautiful was like that. a little bit of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-fitch/what-was-the-point-in-creating-something-that-was-so-futile-and-so/) [Janet Fitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-fitch/) > [The pain of loneliness is one way in which he wants to get our attention. We may be earnestly desiring to be obedient and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elisabeth-elliot/the-pain-of-loneliness-is-one-way-in-which-he-wants-to-get-our/) [Elisabeth Elliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elisabeth-elliot/) > [It started in middle school. Once, a group of girls locked me in the janitor's closet. Another time, a girl spilled chocolate milk down…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dove-cameron/it-started-in-middle-school-once-a-group-of-girls-locked-me-in-the/) [Dove Cameron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dove-cameron/) > [The only things that are a little bit newer are the CD burners, but we hid them under the table, so basically we had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meg-white/the-only-things-that-are-a-little-bit-newer-are-the-cd-burners-but-we/) [Meg White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meg-white/) [Browse all 390 Another time quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/another-time/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Many people I know - writers, poets - they have all been sentenced not once but sometimes three times after they come out. They serve five or six years, come out another time, and then nine years. Come out again, 12 years. Only because they have a different opinion. 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