430 Quotes by Ai Weiwei

Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what’s on his mind. A fairy tale has come true.

The Internet is uncontrollable. And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It’s as simple as that.

I think everybody deserves freedom. Freedom is such an abstract word, but it’s all we need.

I think art is a very important weapon to achieve human freedom.

I don’t think it’s worth discussing new directions in the context of Chinese art – there were no old directions, either. Chinese art has never had any clear orientation.

My childhood was quite extreme. Sometimes I was so weak I could not stand up. But now I am so strong. Life is unpredictable.

Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions; in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world it is more dangerous. In the west people think it’s a right they’re born with. Here it’s a right given by the government, and one that’s not really practised.

The practice of photography is no longer a means for recording reality. Instead, it has become reality itself.

New York is a city where you’re so alone, you’re an individual, you can disappear. You can make something happen. But it’s very different to make something happen in the art world.