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I don't think public life in and of itself can destroy you. I think it's the way people react to it, and some people are more sturdy than others... I don't think any one faction can be blamed for a person's self destruction - a certain amount of that has to be innate.

Patti Smith

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Patti Smith
Age: 77
Born: 1946
Born: December 30
Composer
Drawer
Guitarist
Human Rights Activist
Musician
Photographer
Poet
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Visual Artist
Writer
Chicago
Illinois
Patricia Lee Smith
Person
React
Self
Destroy
Way
Destruction
Think
Amount
Faction
Thinking
Public
Sturdy
Life
Others
Blamed
People
Certain
Factions
Persons
Innate

More quotes by Patti Smith

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Both of them were ahead of their time, but they didn't live long enough to see the time they were ahead of.
Patti Smith
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I was raised in rural south Jersey, and there was no culture there. There was a small library, and that was it. There was nothing else.
Patti Smith
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I'm not afraid of terrorism at all. I'm afraid of loss of our freedom, loss of mobility, loss of global comradeship.
Patti Smith
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I didn't want any middle-of-the-road creep. I always wanted the toughest guy in school, the guy from south Philly who wore tight black pants. Y'know, the guy who carried the umbrella and wore white shirts with real thin black ties. I was really nuts over this guy named Butchie Magic 'cause he let me carry his switchblade.
Patti Smith
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When I perform, I always opt for communication with God, and in pursuit of communicating with God, you can enter some very dangerous territory. I also have come to realize that total communication with God is physical death.
Patti Smith
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I worked for Hillary [Clinton] when I was young - when she was running for the Senate. I was fundraising and things, I see all of these people as political in a way that isn't humanistic. I'm just watching and hoping that someone is going to distinguish himself or herself as comprehending what we need.
Patti Smith
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I know fashion is a material thing, but we live in a material world and I love clothes.
Patti Smith
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I had a handful of records, but when I was 11 years old, I liked Puccini as much as Little Richard. They both made sense to me.
Patti Smith
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I realize that people need something to believe in.
Patti Smith
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I remember when you were born, it was dawn and the storm settled near my belly. And I rolled in the grass and spit out the gas, and I lit a match and the void went flash. And the sky split and the planets hit, balls of jade dropped and existence stopped.
Patti Smith
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Why do people want to know exactly who I am? Am I a poet? Am I this or that? I've always made people wary. First they called me a rock poet. Then I was a poet that dabbled in rock. Then I was a rock person who dabbled in art.
Patti Smith
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Steven's [Sebring] presence was not threatening he told me that if I never wanted the footage to be seen by anyone, he would give it to me. So I had nothing to lose and everything to gain, and what I gained was his supportive energy and the supportive energy of his wife, who was sometimes the one schlepping the equipment or doing the sound.
Patti Smith
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I've always had a desire to write something and capture people's imagination like Peter Pan had captured mine.
Patti Smith
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It's not that I have compromised or anything, but it's always been important to me to take good care of myself and be a good example. I'm not much a role model in terms of hair care, though.
Patti Smith
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Fate is like a secret friend that helps push you on into life.
Patti Smith
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What will happen to us? I asked. There will always be us, he answered.
Patti Smith
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I want to keep my life as unfettered as possible. So maybe I'll just pretend to get rare books from my catalogue, and not really get them.
Patti Smith
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I'm a worker. I do the work to communicate, and I want people to embrace it, and when they do I'm happy.
Patti Smith
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I've never felt grounded because of my ancestry or my gender. I think until women get away from that they're not going to be great writers.
Patti Smith
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Blessedness is within us all.
Patti Smith