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Patti Smith

Patti Smith Quotes

Singer-songwriter

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Famous Patti Smith Quotes

“We imagined ourselves as the Sons of Liberty with a mission to preserve, protect, and project the revolutionary spirit of rock and roll. We feared that the music which had given us sustenance was in danger of spiritual starvation. We feared it losing its sense of purpose, we feared it falling into fattened hands, we feared it floundering in a mire of spectacle, finance, and vapid technical complexity.”

HandsSpiritualSpiritPurposeFallGivenLibertyRocksDangerSonProtectProjectsLosingMissionsFinancePreservesRevolutionaryComplexityRock And RollStarvationSustenanceVapidFloundering
Book:Just Kids
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“We used to laugh at our small selves, saying that I was a bad girl trying to be good and that he was a good boy trying to be bad. Through the years these roles would reverse, then reverse again, until we came to accept our dual natures. We contained opposing principles, light and dark.”

TryingYearsSelfLightUsedGirlDarkAcceptingBoysPrinciplesRolesLaughingBe GoodReverseOpposingThrough The YearsLight And DarkBad GirlGood BoyDual Nature
Book:Just Kids
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“There were days, rainy gray days, when the streets of Brooklyn were worthy of a photograph, every window the lens of a Leica, the view grainy and immobile. We gathered our colored pencils and sheets of paper and drew like wild, feral children into the night, until, exhausted, we fell into bed. We lay in each other's arms, still awkward but happy, exchanging breathless kisses into sleep.”

ChildrenStillsNightSleepViewsStreetsArmsBedKissingPaperWindowLaysPhotographWorthyGrayAwkwardExhaustedSheetsPencilsLensesBrooklynRainyBreathlessExchangingLeicaGray Days
Author:Patti Smith
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“Much has been said about Robert, and more will be added. Young men will adopt his gait. Young girls will wear white dresses and mourn his curls. He will be condemned and adored. His excesses damned or romanticized. In the end, truth will be found in his work, the corporeal body of the artist. It will not fall away. Man cannot judge it. For art sings of God, and ultimately belongs to him.”

MenHas BeensArtSaidEndsBodyYoungArtistFallGirlFoundWhiteJudgingDressesYoung ManExcessMournCurlsGait
Book:Just Kids
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“If I have any regrets, I could say that I'm sorry I wasn't a better writer or a better singer...When I was younger, I felt it was my duty to wake people up. I thought poetry was asleep. I thought rock 'n' roll was asleep...An artist may have burdens the ordinary citizen doesn't know, but the ordinary citizen has burdens that many artists never even touch.”

PeopleIfsKnowsMayArtistFeltRocksRegretDutyCitizensOrdinarySorryBurdenSingersSongwritingRock N RollI'm SorryOrdinary Citizens
Author:Patti Smith
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