Quote

In the '80s, you couldn't walk in the neighborhood without looking back to see if anyone was following you. You had your key in your hand before you got to your apartment and you'd rush in so you didn't have to stop.

Ai Weiwei

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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
Stop
Rush
Hand
Apartment
Looking
Neighborhood
Anyone
Following
Didn
Keys
Hands
Couldn
Back
Walk
Without
Walks

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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If a society cannot even support somebody like me, then people ask: Who is under protection then? That's why there is such support for me. It is not because I am so beautiful or I am so charming. People feel: This guy is fighting for us.
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Maybe [success] is because I'm in China and I'm more open. Maybe it's my independent behavior, or because I participated in certain projects. I have no idea.
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Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.
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To express yourself needs a reason, but expressing yourself is the reason.
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China has not established the rule of law and if there is a power above the law there is no social justice. Everybody can be subjected to harm. I'm just a citizen: my life is equal in value to any other. But I'm thankful that when I lost my freedom so many people shared feelings and put such touching effort into helping me.
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A society is healthy only when it allows its members to discuss their thoughts openly. This is also the only way that a society can gather consensus, let everyone express his or her wish, and foster creativity.
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China spends a lot of resources and effort on gaining soft power over culture. The hope is that it can be the last lifeline for the Party's survival. Obviously, the idea will fail.
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The whole attitude of society has become much more open and realistic. They realize that the only way to make a more democratic and free society is to let different opinions come out.
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Twitter is most suitable for me. In the Chinese language, 140 characters is a novella.
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If human rights are supposed to have any meaning, then they have to be discussed openly.
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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.
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Artists are the worst [people]. They are selfish, self-centred they don't care what happens.
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I'm always interested in people who are not orientated in art circles to become part of it.
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There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship.
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The media is the message. It carries the full intention and the meaning. Once you change it...it's very disturbing.
Ai Weiwei
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Otherwise, I think the building can be bigger, larger, and the city can be much more crazy. The problem is the government structure is so deadly stupid, not really solving problems but creating a lot of problems itself every day.
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The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.
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I think the pearls - one is a necklace, and another you have five hundred pounds of pearls, which may be one million pearls in a bowl - really show a kind of [society] condition.
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I don't think I was very structured in that society and I don't really believe in personal success, which most Americans believe in.
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Being an artist is more of a mindset, a way of seeing things it is no longer so much about producing something.
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