870 Quotes by Patti Smith

If I got lost along the way I had a compass that I had found embedded in a pile of wet leaves I was kicking my way through. The compass was old and rusted but it still worked, connecting the earth and stars. It told me where I was standing and which way was west but not where I was going and nothing of my worth.

I’m a worker. I do the work to communicate, and I want people to embrace it, and when they do I’m happy.

When I was young, I knew William Burroughs really well. And William’s secret desire, which he never quite did, was to write a straightforward detective novel.

Truthfully, I don’t really think of myself as a photographer. I don’t have all the disciplines and knowledge of a person who’s spent their life devoted to photography.

I wasn’t thinking so much of music. I wasnt thinking so much of perfection or stardom or any of that stuff.

It is said that children do not distinguish between living and inanimate objects; I believe they do. A child imparts a doll or tin soldier with magical life-breath. The artist animates his work as the child his toys.

I’m sure I could write endlessly about nothing. If only I had nothing to say.

He flashed a huge smile, one of absolute joy, from a place of no beginning or end.

I liked being on stage, I just didn’t like the theatrical aspect of being in front of people.