Patti Smith is one of the most interesting artists of the 20th century. As a musician, poet, and author, she knows how to craft a good quote.
Here are some of our favorites.
I’m here right now and I want now to be the greatest time. Patti Smith
Never let go of that fiery sadness called desire. Patti Smith
I think I’m constantly in a state of adjustment. Patti Smith
We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves. Patti Smith, We Can Be Heroes
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us. Patti Smith, Because The Night
Life is an adventure of our own design intersected by fate and a series of lucky and unlucky accidents. Patti Smith, Dream of Life
I don’t fuck much with the past but I fuck plenty with the future. Patti Smith
Love is an angel disguised as lust. Patti Smith, Because The Night
To be an artist — actually, to be a human being in these times — it’s all difficult. … What matters is to know what you want and pursue it. Patti Smith
What I feel is not in the human vocabulary. Patti Smith, Rolling Stone
Where does it all lead? What will become of us? These were our young questions, and young answers were revealed. It leads to each other. We become ourselves. Patti Smith, Just Kids
In our pursuits, though still, we venture forth
Hoping to grasp a handful of cloud and return
Unscathed, cloud in hand. Patti Smith, The Coral Sea
Sometimes I just wanted to raise my hands and stop. But stop what? Maybe just growing up. Patti Smith, Just Kids
Life is like a roller coaster. It’s never going to be perfect — it is going to have perfect moments, and then rough spots, but it’s all worth it. Patti Smith
All I’ve ever wanted, since I was a child, was to do something wonderful. Patti Smith
If only each generation would realize that the time for greatness is right now when they’re alive…the time to flower is now. Patti Smith
Fate is like a secret friend that helps push you on into life. Patti Smith
The idea of redemption is always good news, even if it means sacrifice or some difficult times. Patti Smith
I had no proof that I had the stuff to be an artist, though I hungered to be one. Patti Smith, Just Kids
The two things that constantly inspired me were books and travel. Patti Smith
For I desired, as Youth does, to be taken by the hand and hurled into the world. Patti Smith, We Can Be Heroes
Freedom is…the right to write the wrong words. Patti Smith
Why can’t I write something that would awake the dead? That pursuit is what burns most deeply. Patti Smith
And if we should desire to believe in something, it should be a beacon within. This beacon being the sun, sea, and sky, our children, our work, our companions and, most simply put, the embodiment of love. Patti Smith, Just Kids
Blessedness is within us all. Patti Smith, The Coral Sea
Make your interactions with people transformational, not just transactional. Patti Smith
Please, no matter how we advance technologically, please don’t abandon the book. There is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book. Patti Smith
In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth. For nothing is more precious than the life force and may the love of that force guide you as you go. Patti Smith
In my low periods, I wondered what was the point of creating art. … Are we animating God? Are we talking to ourselves? And what was the ultimate goal? To have one’s work caged in art’s great zoos–the Modern, the Met, the Louvre? Patti Smith, Just Kids
The things I thought would happen didn’t. Things I never anticipated unfolded. Patti Smith, Just Kids
I have vague memories, like impressions on glass plates… Patti Smith, Just Kids
In the period where I had to live the life of a citizen – a life where, like everybody else, I did tons of laundry and cleaned toilet bowls, changed hundreds of diapers and nursed children – I learned a lot. Patti Smith
Everything distracted me, but most of all myself. Patti Smith, Just Kids
I longed to read everything I possibly could, and the things I read in turn produced new yearnings. Patti Smith
An artist may have burdens the ordinary citizen doesn’t know, but the ordinary citizen has burdens that many artists never even touch. Patti Smith
He contained, even at an early age, a stirring and the desire to stir. Patti Smith, Just Kids
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.
Everybody’s got to reclaim these things- poetry, rock ‘n’ roll, political activism- and it’s got to be done over and over again. It’s like eating: you can’t say, ‘Oh, I ate yesterday’. You have to eat again. Patti Smith, Rollling Stone
Ultimately, we are not seeking others to bow to, but to reinforce our individual natures, to help us suffer our own choices, to guide us on our own particular journeys. Patti Smith, We Can Be Heroes
Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises, don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful — be concerned with doing good work and make the right choices and protect your work. And if you build a good name, eventually, that name will be its own currency.
Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand. Patti Smith
I understood that in this small space of time we had mutually surrendered our loneliness and replaced it with trust. Patti Smith, Just Kids
If you over-plan, you close the door on possibilities. Patti Smith
I don’t think,’ he insisted. ‘I feel.’ Patti Smith, Just Kids
As far as I’m concerned, being any gender is a drag. Patti Smith
Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine. Patti Smith, Gloria
We were just kids. Patti Smith, Just Kids
