Quote

Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.

Ai Weiwei

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Ai Weiwei
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: May 18
Architect
Consultant
Contemporary Artist
Designer
Film Director
Human Rights Activist
Painter
Photographer
Sculptor
Social Activist
Peking
Wei-wei Ai
Weiwei Ai
Ai Wei Wei
Timidity
Insulting
Censorship
Hopeless
Forward
Self
Way

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

Image
If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?
Ai Weiwei
Image
Life is never guaranteed to be safe, so we better use it while we are still in good condition.
Ai Weiwei
Image
You only have temporary curiosity, amusement, and challenges, but that does not necessarily mean you are really convinced that it's necessary or that it's not even worth to do it. It's just a way you have to set up some kind of activities to follow your instincts or your curiosities.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I’m an artist who is always looking for what is possible. I’m always looking to extend the boundaries.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Selling high or low doesn't mean anything. It has to do purely with the market.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Beijing is constructing a 100,000 m2 modern art museum, yet it will not feature any of my work.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I believe [the architecture firm] Herzog and de Meuron and our collaboration made the product the best it could be.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Maybe being powerful means to be fragile.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Any design, any city, any kind of craziness or tragedy, it all comes from a long time of preparation.
Ai Weiwei
Image
If there is no free speech, every single life has lived in vain
Ai Weiwei
Image
I don't belong to a working system. They only select people if you belong to one so you can be controlled.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I was an illegal alien for many, many years. I couldn't move. If I moved I could not even get a visa back.
Ai Weiwei
Image
The world is sphere, has no East or West.
Ai Weiwei
Image
I grew up in a desert, which has no kind of imagination.
Ai Weiwei
Image
This world should be much more open and should be much more free, so the young people would have the chance to exercise the quality of their lives.
Ai Weiwei
Image
Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.
Ai Weiwei
Image
The Internet has established a public sphere and developed a pressure which the government can no longer ignore.
Ai Weiwei
Image
What is important is that we actively express our thoughts and wishes, in every realm that we can access.
Ai Weiwei
Image
We see the tendency in the world to criticise democracy and sometimes even to say that authoritarian countries like China are more efficient. That is very short-sighted. China looks efficient only because it can sacrifice most people's rights. This is not something the west should be happy about.
Ai Weiwei
Image
All movies in China are censored. Out of 600 movies produced in China, only 60 are allowed to show in theatres.
Ai Weiwei