"I don't know about that. I'm not a very analytical person. I have various impulses. I've often quoted Walt Whitman's phrase "I contain multitudes." I understand that."
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Quote collection
Patti Smith quotes (page 4 of 23)
456 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"I never really wanted to be a singer - not with any longevity. But I always wanted to be a writer."
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"We were as Hansel and Gretel and we ventured out into the black forest of the world."
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"A good artist's always got his hand in his zipper."
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"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."
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"I always enjoyed doing transgender songs."
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"I was horny, but I was innocent 'cause I was a real-late bloomer and not particularly attractive. In fact, homely."
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"If the postman is saying hello to you, then I feel like, wow, thats something special."
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"Pissing in a river, watching it rise."
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"Most women writers don't interest me because they're hung up with being a woman, they're hung up with being Jewish, they're hung up with being somebody or other. Rather than just going, just spurting, just creating."
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"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 about doing good work. Protect your work and if you build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency. Life is like a roller coaster ride, it is never going to be perfect. It is going to have perfect moments and rough spots, but it’s all worth it."
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"Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand."
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"For me, personally, I think drugs are sacred and should be used for work. That's what I believe in. Drugs have a real shamanistic value. I can handle drugs. I've never had a problem."
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"I learned from him that often contradiction is the clearest way to truth"
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"I hadn't performed or been in the public eye for about 16 years. When my husband passed away, I was obliged to go back to work to take care of our kids. I also wanted to do a record in memory of him. So we did Gone Again. During that process, I had to be photographed and had to go back to doing articles and interviews."
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"When we got to the part where we had to improvise an argument in a poetic language, I got cold feet. "I can't do this," I said. "I don't know what to say." "Say anything," he said. "You can't make a mistake when you improvise." "What if I mess it up? What if I screw up the rhythm?" "You can't," he said. "It's like drumming. If you miss a beat, you create another." In this simple exchange, Sam taught me the secret of improvisation, one that I have accessed my whole life."
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"Often the simplest song is the hardest to write."
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"I was so horny in school it felt like my body was filled with electricity. I felt like I had neon bones or something."
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"Good news doesn't necessarily have to be a positive thing. Bringing good news is imparting hope to one's fellow man."
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"These are the times, the times of our own, these are the shapes the world we formed."
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