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I saw [Allen Ginsberg] more as an old man who liked poetry and who had a lot of physical and emotional problems. We liked our time together.

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
Problem
Ginsberg
Together
Allen
Men
Liked
Time
Physical
Saws
Poetry
Emotional
Problems

More quotes by Ai Weiwei

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During the days in detention, I thought most about the moon.
Ai Weiwei
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Any politician who respects China's government should tell it openly what is in his heart. It is disrespectful to keep quiet about such issues - both vis-a-vis the government and the people concerned.
Ai Weiwei
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I'm a free man now, except I cannot leave China. You know, I have no desire to travel. I have so many things to do I cannot finish them now.
Ai Weiwei
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To the media, I have become a symbolic figure, critical of China. According to the government, I am a dangerous threat.
Ai Weiwei
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I think I'm just a traveler. When you walk across a river and there's no bridge, you build one. I'm used to having to deal with Chinese Communist ideology - it's not really an ideology, but a method of control. But China's problems are not just China's problems - they're human problems. Humanity has always worked better when you see it as one.
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.
Ai Weiwei
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The biggest obstacle in interacting with China is the difference in perspectives about basic values. These include issues such as human rights, the concept of law and constitution.
Ai Weiwei
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Politics is like air and water. And you know if there is bad politics. Everyone is polluted. Everyone is unhealthy. See the people walking on the street: how they act.
Ai Weiwei
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Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world it is more dangerous. In the west people think it's a right they're born with. Here it's a right given by the government, and one that's not really practised.
Ai Weiwei
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Artists are the worst [people]. They are selfish, self-centred they don't care what happens.
Ai Weiwei
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I think it’s a responsibility for any artist to protect freedom of expression and to use any way to extend this power.
Ai Weiwei
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Creativity is part of human nature. It can only be untaught.
Ai Weiwei
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If artists cannot speak up for human dignity or rights, then who else will do it?
Ai Weiwei
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I don't think China has professional museums - not in the past, present, or near future.
Ai Weiwei
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Expressing oneself is like a drug. I'm so addicted to it.
Ai Weiwei
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These are nonviolent people who have lost their freedom simply because they expressed their ideas….In truth, they are heroes of our time.
Ai Weiwei
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Democracy, material wealth, and universal education are the soil upon which modernism exists.
Ai Weiwei
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I don't think there is a distinct change, because in the West I'm not a person who can serve his purpose.
Ai Weiwei
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It is not an easy job to govern China, I am aware of that. There are crises and emergencies all the time, we might not even be aware of some. But I am afraid we'll have to wait and observe precisely what the government is up to.
Ai Weiwei
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This week, the world gathers in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic games. This is the extraordinary moment China has been dreaming of for 100 years. People have been longing for this moment, because it symbolises a turning point in China's relationship with the outside world.
Ai Weiwei