Ai Weiwei: Trending quotes

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Ai Weiwei: 436 quotes39 likes

“Any power or structure that seeks to maintain full control and is not open in any way to loosening its power eventually makes itself ridiculous.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

“No autocracy can lead people to believe that they are living in harmony and happiness.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei. “ The Olympics Are a Propaganda Show http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,531883,00.html.” Spiegel, January 29, 2008. 2000-09, 2008

“The world is a sphere, there is no East or West.”

Ai Weiwei

“ No Fake: An Interview with Ai Weiwei http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2010/08/no_fake_an_inte.html.” Portland Art, September 8, 2010. 2010-, 2010

“Consider why the quality of school dinners is declining, even as more and more golf courses are opened.”

Ai Weiwei

“ Gold Is Not the Real Measure of a Nation http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/25/olympics2008.china,” Guardian, August 25, 2008. 2000-09, 2008

“I tell people that because you don’t bear any responsibility, you put me in danger. If we all say the same thing, then I think the government has to listen. But because no one is saying it, I become singled out, even though what I’m saying is common sense. It’s very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Who Is Ai Weiwei?, 2009

“People have said, if you leave, you may never come back. Or they may not even let you leave. So this is always a cost you may have to pay. But I don’t want to restrict myself: When it happens, it happens. I have to deal with it, but not to prepare for it, because it is a kind of stupidity. If you prepare for it too much, you become a part of it.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, I have to speak for people who are afraid, 2010

“I often ask myself if I am afraid of being detained again. I love freedom as much as anybody else, maybe more than most. But it is a tragedy to live your life in fear. It is worse than actually losing your freedom.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Living in Fear Is Worse Than Imprisonment, 2012

“Freedom of speech implies the world isn’t defined. It is meaningful when people are allowed to see the world their way.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei Twitter feed: @AiWW (8:16 p.m. December 22, 2011).
2010-, Twitter feeds, 2010-12

“Beijing is two cities. One is of power and of money. People don’t care who their neighbors are; they don’t trust you. The other city is one of desperation. I see people on public buses, and I see their eyes, and I see they hold no hope. They can’t even imagine that they’ll be able to buy a house. They come from very poor villages where they’ve never seen electricity or toilet paper.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, The City: Beijing, 2011

“The government computer has one button: delete.”

Ai Weiwei

Zhang, Qichen. “ Ai Weiwei Says Censorship in China Will Ultimately Fail http://opennet.net/blog/2012/04/ai-weiwei-says-censorship-china-will-ultimately-fail.” Opennet, April 18, 2012. 2010-, 2012

“Contemporary art and the [Communist] Party are an impossible situation. It’s like oil and water—they can never mix.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

“The world is not changing if you don’t shoulder the burden of responsibility.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei Twitter feed: @AiWW(4:19 p.m. December 2, 2009).
2000-09, Twitter feeds, 2009

“Choices after waking up: To be true or to lie? To take action or be brainwashed? To be free or be jailed?”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei Twitter feed: @AiWW (8:50 a.m. September 5, 2009)
2000-09, Twitter feeds, 2009

“The government may be made up of clever, sensible people. But if they do not believe in basic human values, the more clever or shrewd they are the greater the tragedy they will create.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

“The Chinese authorities think of artists as prostitutes. And in reality it’s true: in the Communist system artists just represent what the power structure seeks them to represent. It is prostitution.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

“The disaster-makers always get away, while the innocent are always punished.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Our Duty Is to Remember Sichuan, 2009

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

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Truth to Power, 2008

“Myself, I try to search for the new way, always trying to set up a new possibility and to find the new tools to express myself. To reach a broader audience.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei, interview by Christiane Amanpour, 2010

“I will never leave China, unless I am forced to. Because China is mine. I will not leave something that belongs to me in the hands of people I do not trust.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei Says Blind Dissident’s Escape Will Inspire Chinese, 2012

“From my experience dealing with Sichuan [after the 2008 earthquake] I started to understand very clearly the character of local government. They will do anything. You will never really wrongly accuse them of anything because they do everything.”

Ai Weiwei

Branigan, Tania. “ Accounts Invaded, Computers Infected—Human Rights Activists Tell of Cyber Attacks http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/14/china-human-rights-activists-cyber-attack.” Guardian, January 14, 2010. 2010-, 2010