870 Quotes by Patti Smith

Lost things. They claw through the membranes, attempting to summon our attention through an indecipherable mayday. Words tumble in helpless disorder. The dead speak. We have forgotten how to listen.

In time we often become one with those we once failed to understand.

It’s not so easy writing about nothing.

What I wanted to do in rock ’n roll was merge poetry with sonic scapes, and the two people who had contributed so much to that were Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.

I felt alien my whole life, but I didn’t feel alien because of my gender. Other people made me aware of my gender.

Life isn’t some vertical or horizontal line – you have your own interior world, and it’s not neat.

What is the heart but a small hand of agonies?

Personally, I’m not much for symbolism. I never get it. Why can’t things be just as they are? I never thought to psychoanalyze Seymour Glass or sought to break down “Desolation Row.” I just wanted to get lost, become one with somewhere else, slip a wreath on a steeple top solely because I wished it.

Hopefully if you create something fine, people will relate to it, so you’re communicating with people, and you’re not in a void. On the other hand, because you’re always creating and transforming, art always separates you – always.