I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art.
Ai WeiweiRead
There are no outdoor sports as graceful as throwing stones at a dictatorship.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of challenging oppressive regimes in a bold and creative way.
Ai Weiwei's quote highlights the power of peaceful resistance against authoritarianism, suggesting that acts of protest, especially those that are artistic or metaphorical, can be seen as more graceful than traditional outdoor sports. It encourages people to engage in rebellion against tyranny in a manner that is both impactful and aesthetically significant, illustrating the beauty in the fight for freedom.
In practice
Use this quote in a speech about activism and civil rights.
I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art.
Self-censorship is insulting to the self. Timidity is a hopeless way forward.
If there is no free speech, every single life has lived in vain
Art is always about overcoming obstacles between the inner condition and the skill for expression.
As a human being, member of society, you must clearly state your mind. It's a responsibility. It is the way you identify yourself otherwise you don't know who you are and why you are here.
I am very much interested in the so-called useless object. I mean, it takes perfect craftsmanship, beautiful material carefully measured and crafted, but at the same time itβs really useless.
When I got home from hospital, and I was in a wheelchair in a plaster body cast, an aeroplane flew over. And I thought to myself, 'Well, if I can't walk, then I might as well fly.' And I was lifted into the aeroplane for the first time. And when I took the controls of the aeroplane, I knew this was something I could do. I thought, 'I can fly.'
Sometimes I hear the crowd cheering, and most of the time your body's on auto pilot, so sometimes even after I do a floor routine, I'm like, 'Did I really just do that?'
If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its Almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly and lone and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors.
I was at Yale from 1953 to 1957, and I tried to commit suicide in my freshman year because I was gay, and I thought I was the only person in the school who was. I was just totally and utterly miserable.
If we define risk as 'the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome,' inaction is the greatest risk of all.
In order to fly, you have to give up the ground you are standing on.
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