A Quote by Patti Smith

People came at me with all sorts of offers, wanting to make me into a hard-core Cher. I had no desire for any amount of money to be reformed for someone's vision, because in the end, that's what you got: your clay in someone else's hands.
It's always uneven, love; it's unbalanced and it's obviously even worse when it comes to someone wanting to part from someone who isn't willing to. It's often feeling hurt that you've never felt before and you want somebody else to feel that pain and also not wanting to let go, because when you let go you've got to start living your life again and it consumes people.
I didn't have big movie offers, or any big agents wanting to work with me. I had to go grassroots, start at the bottom and go on 150 auditions before someone finally gave me a shot.
I didn't have big movie offers, or any big agents wanting to work with me. I had to go grassroots, start at the bottom and go on 150 auditions before someone finally gave me a shot
It took me a long time to understand that there is no amount of wanting and no amount of desire and no amount of hard work which allows you to become a classical ballerina if you're not physically given the gifts.
What do you call it when someone steals someone else's money secretly? Theft. What do you call it when someone takes someone else's money openly by force? Robbery. What do you call it when a politician takes someone else's money in taxes and gives it to someone who is more likely to vote for him? Social Justice.
When someone has to do work for me, I lose my mind. I can't help it, I'm a bit of a control freak. I've always wanted something that would depict slow-moving paintings, stunning artwork that also incorporates movement. It was hard letting someone else create that vision for me, but I love it.
How do I think of you? As someone I want to be with. As someone as young as me, but "older," if that makes sense. As someone I like to look at, not just because you're good to look at, but because just looking at you makes me smile and feel happier. As someone who knows her mind and who I envy for that. As someone who is strong in herself without seeming to need anyone else to help her. As someone who makes me thinks and unsettles me in a way that makes me feel more alive.
It was hard to believe there was so much money in all this bitter and poverty-stricken world. So much money, so very much money, and someone else had it, someone who took it lightly and didn't need it.
If someone came to me and said, "Your strategy in your post-presidency is brilliant," as if I had figured out a way to make me look better, to me, that analysis is amusing.
Someone else's vision will never be as good as your own vision of your self. Live and die with it 'cause in the end it's all you have. Lose it and you lose yourself and everything else. I should have listened to myself.
When people ask if I have any advice for young designers, the best advice I could ever give to somebody is to work for someone else, when you are playing with someone else's money. It is very expensive when you start doing it on your own.
I was married to someone who had more money than me, but because I was the stronger earner and we lived in California - a shocking thing slapped me in the face when we divorced and I had to end up paying him my earnings.
In fact, I had a series of offers which would have brought me a lot of money to make films and package TV programs. There were people who said to me, we'll put a million dollars in your bank account tomorrow, which is a hard thing to turn down.
I chose busking because I didn't want to be working for someone else. I wanted to work as I am. I feel like you ultimately do have a choice if you have your vision. So, I had a vision forever that I was going to play music. And there was no stopping that.
If you've got the money, you need people to make money with your money. And if you have the talent, you can always merchandise your talent to someone who's got the money and make money. There's two pieces to it: talent and money.
It never seemed important to me that my photos be published. It's important that I take them. There were periods where I didn't have money, and I would imagine that someone would come to me and say: 'Here is money, you can go do your photography, but you must not show it.' I would have accepted right away. On the other hand, if someone had come to me saying: 'Here is money to do your photography, but after your death it must be destroyed,' I would have refused.
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