Quotes from Patti Smith

When I was young, I was offered my first recording contract in 1971 and was offered quite a bit of money if I would change my character and be a '70s version of Cher.

I came into music because I thought the presentation of poetry wasn't vibrant enough. So I merged improvised poetry with basic rock chords. That was my original mission.

My daughter is one of my greatest inspirations. She's an environmentalist, she plays piano, she's raising money for the earthquake victims in Nepal. Every day she surprises me and teaches me something.

I work to Glenn Gould in the morning and go to sleep listening to Parsifal.

I didn't love Jim Morrison 'cause he was self-destructive. I loved him because of his work. Because of the way he merged poetry and rock-and-roll. Because he did something new.

I've always thrived on the encouragement of others.

Some of us are born rebellious. Like Jean Genet or Arthur Rimbaud, I roam these mean streets like a villain, a vagabond, an outcast, scavenging for the scraps that may perchance plummet off humanity's dirty plates, though often sometimes taking a cab to a restaurant is more convenient.

Artists, musicians, scientists - if you have any kind of visionary aptitude, it's often something that you don't have a choice in. You have to do it.

I didn't have any career design. I was not thinking about publishing or doing a record. I was just working. I was evolving. I wanted to really comprehend what I was doing before stepping too far out.

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.

I've always had a desire to write something and capture people's imagination like Peter Pan had captured mine.

I got over the loss of his desk and chair, but never the desire to produce a string of words more precious than the emeralds of Cortés.

I was a lower middle-class kid. My family had no money. There was no room in our small house where there were already four kids, including myself, living.

The only way I can lose my mind in bed is to destroy myself in a fantasy.

My father was a dreamy fellow - he read Plato and Socrates and watched Phillies games.

My father hated rock and roll - hated it. My first real argument with my father was over the Rolling Stones. And he never, ever liked rock and roll. He just liked me.

My father came a couple of times, but he always blamed his hearing loss on my loud amplifiers. So he didn't come anymore, but I had his support.

[Steven Sebring] presence was also nice for my children, who, having just lost their father, quite naturally craved warm male attention. They gravitated to him right away.

My mom loved rock n' roll. My father hated it. We couldn't play it when he was around. He liked classical music and Duke Ellington.

My mom loved rock 'n roll. My father hated it. We couldn't play it when he was around.

Hail brother, the distant thunder is nothing but hearts beating as one.

I don't fuck much with the past but I fuck plenty with the future.

Good news doesn't necessarily have to be a positive thing. Bringing good news is imparting hope to one's fellow man.

My mom loved rock 'n roll. My father hated it. We couldn't play it when he was around.