Quotes from Ai Weiwei

I will never leave China, unless I am forced to. Because China is mine. I will not leave something that belongs to me in the hands of people I do not trust.

I never really read Allen Ginsberg poetry, even though I have a book he gave me.

Everything is art. Everything is politics.

Creativity is the power to act.

Everyone thinks the Chinese government selected me. Never ever. I was selected by Herzog and de Meuron.

Of course, there [in China] has to be chaos. It has to be crazy, and I don't think there's anything wrong about it except this government, which is really incapable of doing anything meaningful.

I have to find a place for my own. I have to search for my own happiness.

I never had a sense of home.

China spends a lot of resources and effort on gaining soft power over culture. The hope is that it can be the last lifeline for the Party's survival. Obviously, the idea will fail.

I think art certainly is the vehicle for us to develop any new ideas, to be creative, to extend our imagination, to change the current conditions.

I grew up in a desert, which has no kind of imagination.

The seed is a household object but at the same time it is a revolutionary symbol.

This week, the world gathers in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic games. This is the extraordinary moment China has been dreaming of for 100 years. People have been longing for this moment, because it symbolises a turning point in China's relationship with the outside world.

I have to respect my life, and free expression is part of my life. I can never really silence myself.

New York was not a romantic city at [80th]. Nobody knows who you are and you don't have to care about anybody else. It's a very cold city, I should say.

Every day I'm learning something new from the practice. It's very rewarding.

It's really rubbish that some kind of "technical" learning means you will be a better person because you know this skill better.

Chinese citizens have never had the right to really express their opinions; in the constitution it says you can, but in the real world it is more dangerous. In the west people think it's a right they're born with. Here it's a right given by the government, and one that's not really practised.

To survive, China had to open up to the West. It could not survive otherwise. This was after many millions have died of hunger in a country that was like North Korea is today. Once we became part of global competition, we had to agree to some rules. It's painful, but we had to. Otherwise there was no way to survive.

We see the tendency in the world to criticise democracy and sometimes even to say that authoritarian countries like China are more efficient. That is very short-sighted. China looks efficient only because it can sacrifice most people's rights. This is not something the west should be happy about.

Growing up, my family was an enemy of the state. I have experienced more disappointment than joy, much more sad stories or desperate conditions.

Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be.

If there is no freedom of expression, then the beauty of life is lost. Participation in a society is not an artistic choice, it's a human need.

No state or society can claim to have established human rights once and for all.