430 Quotes by Ai Weiwei

Maybe [success] is because I'm in China and I'm more open. Maybe it's my independent behavior, or because I participated in certain projects. I have no idea.

A lot of the time [in the U.S.], I was thinking about how spending time is always questionable or is always the biggest obstacle in my life.

I don't like China. Even today, I still feel I have no emotional relations with this place.

I grew up in a desert, which has no kind of imagination.

I spent a lot of time standing on street corners [of New York City] talking to local residents. I spent time in bookstores and galleries. But most of the time, I really did not have much to do.

I don't believe in a sense of home.

The leadership knows that you cannot solve the issues of China's future with the means of the past. The demographic consequences of the one-child policy, the build-up of the welfare state, the jobs for 7 million university graduates every year, the immense corruption: Even some Western governments would have to scramble to find solutions to such problems.

If there's the right condition, I always want to express the concept or ideas in a very independent way.

The fantasy we had with pearls was always so luxurious and unique with a kind of rareness.