Patti Smith

In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth.

I dreamed of having a book of my own, of writing one that I could put on a shelf.

I'm not saying I wasn't flawed or amateurish. But you can never say I did anything to appease the music business.

An artist may have burdens the ordinary citizen doesn't know, but the ordinary citizen has burdens that many artists never even touch.

If I have any regrets, I could say that I'm sorry I wasn't a better writer or a better singer.

I loved books; I read my childhood away. I was more interested in my interior world.

I had a handful of records, but when I was 11 years old, I liked Puccini as much as Little Richard. They both made sense to me.

A writer, or any artist, can’t expect to be embraced by the people [but] you just keep doing your work - because you have to, because it’s your calling.

I've said this over and over, but I'll say it a million more times - I'm concerned more about the death of a bee than I am about terrorism. Because we're losing hives and bees by the millions because of such strong pesticides.

I would rather write or record something great and have it overlooked than do mediocre work and have it be popular.

What I wanted in life always was to write something as good as 'Pinocchio.' I wanted to write. I wanted to evolve. I wanted to grow.

I get irritated with the world. I get irritated with politicians. I get very irritated with governments and with corporations, but in terms of imagination - my imagination is always fertile. I'm either thinking of my own things or constantly engaged by the things that other people do.

When I'm writing a book, I don't have any responsibility to anyone. I'm solitary. I'm writing on my own. I write by hand. And I write every day. I mean, it's part of my daily discipline.

Nothing will stifle your human evolution more than fame and fortune.

As I go through life, I can see why my mother directed me that way, or why my father counseled me in that way. But some things you're open to when you're young, and some things you need to find out for yourself. I think that that's pretty universal.

I don't believe people playing rock n' roll should have crowns. We're not kings and queens. Anybody can play it.

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.

It's not uncool to worry about people who seem like they're going on the wrong path. There's nothing cool about being self-destructive.

I think we have a creative impulse where suffering can magnify our work, but so can joy. You can be in love and write the greatest love song ever. Sometimes I think too much suffering makes it difficult to do one's work.

Everyone has a creative impulse, and has the right to create, and should.

It was always my belief that rock and roll belonged in the hands of the people, not rock stars.