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By the time I was 10 or 11, I was completely demoralized. I thought, I'm done. I'm never going to be a missionary, because my indiscretion column, whether it was little lies or stealing a Chunky bar, kept me from sainthood.

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
Time
Lying
Column
Whether
Columns
Thought
Missionary
Littles
Stealing
Little
Bars
Indiscretion
Done
Kept
Chunky
Going
Lies
Sainthood
Never
Completely
Demoralized

More quotes by 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.
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People need space to air out their thoughts, to have a sense of themselves - unfettered by anything.
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If you don't have what you need, just rock with what you've got!
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Even as a child, I knew what I didn't want. I didn't want to wear red lipstick.
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As an artist, I used to think that my responsibility was to do good work. But I had to learn from the 70s on that being a public figure presents another aspect of responsibility.
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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.
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I still don't want to be put in the feminist bag. I'm a humanist.
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Where does it all lead? What will become of us? These were our young questions, and young answers were revealed. It leads to each other. We become ourselves.
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I imagined myself as Frida to Diego, both muse and maker. I dreamed of meeting an artist to love and support and work with side by side.
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It got to the point where I started hiding because I didn't want to be photographed. (On living with Robert Mapplethorpe)
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I walk alone, assaulted it seems, by tears from heaven.
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When I was a teenager, I dreamed of being an opera singer like Maria Callas or a jazz singer like June Christy or Chris Connor, or approaching songs with the kind of mystical lethargy of Billie Holiday, or championing the downtrodden like Lotte Lenya. But I never dreamed of singing in a rock-and-roll band.
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Christianity made us think there's one heaven.
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If we keep our little flame alive, our first feeling of enthusiasm of who we are, without the influence or intervention of others, we will prevail.
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My style of performance poetry came from the beatniks, Allen Ginsberg.
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I like photographing dresses in windows. I actually wore a lot of dresses in the '70s. I like them on other people now.
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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.
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I think it's good for people to see the positive beauty that can flower from the deepest grieving.
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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.
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I never felt oppressed because of my gender. When I'm writing a poem or drawing, I'm not a female I'm an artist.
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