Quotes by Patti Smith
Since childhood, it was my dream to go where all the poets and artists had been. Rimbaud, Artaud, Brancusi, Camus, Picasso, Bresson, Goddard, Jeanne Moreau, Juliette Greco, everybody - Paris for me was a Mecca.
My father was a dreamy fellow - he read Plato and Socrates and watched Phillies games.
Artists are traditionally resistant to labels.
I am not really certain how original my contribution to music is as I am obviously an amateur.
I have a daughter who's 11 years old. Maybe she'll grow up independent and really really heavy and become a movie star and she'll play me in my life story.
I would rather write or record something great and have it overlooked than do mediocre work and have it be popular.
The issue of gender was never my biggest concern; my biggest concern was doing good work. When the feminist movement really got going, I wasn't an active part of it because I was more concerned with my own mental pursuits.
A lot of my audience are in their 50s. But they want me to pretend to continue to be pretending.
What I really like is an intelligent review. It doesn't have to be positive. A review that has some kind of insight, and sometimes people say something that's startling or is so poignant.
When I was young, all I wanted was to write books and be an artist.
I personally am not interested in people trying to pigeonhole me.
Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand.
As I grew up, one of my strongest allies has been my sister.
Usually when I go to a place for the first time, unless there's something historical or spectacular that nature has to offer, the first thing I like to do is see what's on the minds of the people.
Besides me wanting to be an artist, I wanted to be a movie star.
My mother had no end of tragedy in her life. She would make herself get up and take a deep breath and go out and do laundry. Hang up sheets.
People wouldn't know this about me, but I adore ball gowns. I love their cut, their architecture and the thought of the hands of so many seamstresses working on them.
First of all, anybody who has lasted 30 and went through the 60's is really a survivor.
Rock n' roll is dream soup, what's your brand?
If your label won't let you have the cover you want or sing the songs you want, then leave!
In fact, I thought my calling was to be a painter.
As an artist, I used to think that my responsibility was to do good work. But I had to learn from the '70s on that being a public figure presents another aspect of responsibility.
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.
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.
In 1974, when I started working with the material that became 'Horses,' a lot of our great voices had died. We'd lost Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin, and people like Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.
