Ai Weiwei: Quotes about people

Ai Weiwei is Chinese concept artist. Explore interesting quotes on people.
Ai Weiwei: 436   quotes 37   likes

“The people who control culture in China have no culture.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, China’s ‘Mozart’ Drops Off State Hit Parade, 2010

People

“You’re in total isolation. And you don’t know how long you’re going to be there, but you truly believe they can do anything to you. There’s no way to even question it. You’re not protected by anything. Why am I here? Your mind is very uncertain of time. You become like mad. It’s very hard for anyone. Even for people who have strong beliefs.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, The City: Beijing, 2011

People , Way , Question , Strong

“In China, there is a long history of the government not revealing information, so it’s difficult for the Chinese people to ever know the truth. It is vital that we try to bring that truth to life.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, An Artist’s Ordeal. 2009

Life , People , Truth , History

“[My family] suffer so much. My mother was much older when I came out [of detention]. She had problems with her hearing and high blood pressure. But they still support me. When you make somebody disappear and you don’t announce it to the family, what is this? You make people desperate and bring them close to death. If our cat or dog is lost, it makes us desperately want to know where it is—so for humans disappearing, you can barely imagine the pain. What kind of society is this? 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 so charming. People feel, This guy is fighting for us.”

Ai Weiwei

“ Ai Weiwei: Artistic Licence http://www.economist.com/node/21554178.” Economist, May 5, 2012.
2010-, 2012

Death , Pain , People , Family

“Behind every political deal in this country, the first casualties are always the ordinary people, who are barely treated as human.”

Ai Weiwei

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

People , Country

“You see a Party system that crushes down anybody who [has] different opinions, who has different ideas in their mind. Simply to have different opinions can cost someone their life. They can be put in jail, they can be silenced, and they can [disappear]. And the other people would take it, not giving support.”

Ai Weiwei

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

Life , People , Idea , Support

“On the Internet, people do not know each other, they don’t have common leaders, sometimes not even a common political goal. But they come together on certain issues. I think that is a miracle. It never happened in the past. Without the Internet, I would not even be Ai Weiwei today. I would just be an artist somewhere doing my shows.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei: ‘Shame on Me.’, 2011

People , Thinking , Past

“They just don’t trust people. They don’t trust individuals, they don’t trust any change that should serve and benefit people, and they try to stop it.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Digital Activism in China, 2010

People , Change

“Today China and the world will meet again. People will see that the planet is now smaller than at any time in history, that mankind should bid farewell to arrogance and indifference, to ignorance and discrimination, and understand that we share the same small piece of land. It will be a time to rediscover each other, to share what is good in life, to look each other in the eye and link all ten fingers.”

Ai Weiwei

“ Why I’ll Stay Away from the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/07/olympics2008.china.” Guardian, August 7, 2008.
2000-09, 2008

Life , People , World , History

“Very few people know why art sells so high. I don’t even know.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei, interview in “ Change http://www.pbs.org/art21/watch-now/episode-change,” Episode 1, Season Six, Art: 21—Art in the Twenty-First Century, PBS, April 2012.
2010-, 2012

People , Art

“The state is taking action against people who have peacefully demonstrated their ideas. They are writers—all they did is to express their minds through the Internet. So the pattern is very clear. The state tries to maintain stability by crushing any thought of making change. It could happen to me, because I did the same thing and in many cases I went much further and deeper. But I always think the government can learn from their mistakes—they should learn and understand; they should be just as intelligent as anyone else.”

Ai Weiwei

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

People , Intelligence , Idea , Understanding

“I think the government [will] lose the battle. Because for a nation to develop, the government needs to correct the information, they need to have a space for people to be involved, to discuss, to participate in the change. Otherwise, I don’t think they can really last in this kind of development, because economically it goes so fast but politically it stays the same as many, many years ago. I think even the government senses that this is impossible.”

Ai Weiwei

Ai Weiwei, “In China, Is Censorship the Mother of Creativity?” Interview on The Stream, Aljazeera, April 16, 2012.
2010-, 2012

People , Thinking , Sense , Change

“They [the government] cannot stop people from communicating freely, to get information and to express themselves. When they do that, this nation is not a right place to live. They sacrifice generations of people’s opportunities. This is a crime.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei: The Dissident, 2011

People , Communication

“It is absurd that so much money has been wasted on manipulating public opinion, on simulating emotion. This nation is notorious for its ability to make or fake anything cheaply. “Made-in-China” goods now fill homes around the world. But our giant country has a small problem. We can’t manufacture the happiness of our people.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Happiness Can’t Be Faked, 2008

Money , People , World , Home

“Twitter is the people’s tool, the tool of the ordinary people, people who have no other resources.”

Ai Weiwei

Ventura, Catherine. “ Is Twitter a Human Right? One Chinese Activist Thinks So http://www.huffingtonpost.com/catherine-ventura/is-twitter-a-human-right_b_501971.html.” Huffington Post, March 17, 2012.
2010-, 2012

People

“The 81 days of detention were a nightmare. I am not unique; it happened to many people in China. Conditions were extreme, created by a system that thinks it is above the law and has become a kind of monstrous machine. There were so many moments when I felt desperate and hopeless. But still, the next morning, I heard the birds singing.”

Ai Weiwei

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

People , Law , Bird , Thinking

“Later I became very involved in writing. I really enjoyed that moment of writing. People would pass around my sentences. That was a feeling I never had before. It was like a bullet out of the gun.”

Ai Weiwei

2010-, Ai Weiwei: The Dissident, 2011

People , Feeling

“It is as difficult [for Chinese politicians] to get a real smile [from the people] as it is to keep the sky blue and clouds white.”

Ai Weiwei

2000-09, Happiness Can’t Be Faked, 2008

People , Smile

“I also have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is okay, to speak out.”

Ai Weiwei

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

People , Hope , Thinking