The thing is that any sophistication I have, aesthetically, comes from ‘Vogue’ and ‘Harper’s Bazaar.’ In the ’60s, I never missed an issue, even if I had to steal to get them. – Patti Smith
Grief starts to become indulgent, and it doesn’t serve anyone, and it’s painful. But if you transform it into remembrance, then you’re magnifying the person you lost and also giving something of that person to other people, so they can experience something of that person. – Patti Smith
I was raised in rural south Jersey, and there was no culture there. There was a small library, and that was it. There was nothing else. – Patti Smith
You can’t change the world; you can’t fix the whole environment. But you can recycle. You can turn the water off when you’re brushing your teeth. You can do small things. – Patti Smith
Then I read Little Women, and of course, like a lot of really young girls, I was very taken with Jo – Jo being the writer and the misfit. – Patti Smith
I get up, and if I feel out of sorts, I’ll do some exercises, I’ll feed my cat, then I go get my coffee, take a notebook, and write for a couple of hours. – Patti Smith
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. – Patti Smith
I had this idea that the coolest thing that could happen to you was talking with God. My father was always talking about God, and I idolized my father, so I’d spend hours trying to have mental telepathy with God. – Patti Smith
One of my great goals when I first started taking photographs or showing them publicly is that people might want one for over their desk. That’s my goal. – Patti Smith
I don’t think the Palestinian people or Afghan children or some other things I’m concerned about are at the top of other people’s agendas – not right now, when America is going through such a recession and people are suffering across the board financially. But I think all that will change. – Patti Smith
I remember when the Bic pen was controversial. They came from France. They were cheap, and when one was out of ink, you threw it away; you didn’t dip it into more ink. – Patti Smith
I’m a worker. I do the work to communicate, and I want people to embrace it, and when they do I’m happy. – Patti Smith
I am not really certain how original my contribution to music is as I am obviously an amateur. – Patti Smith
The thing is that as you grow through life, the pursuit of art and the pursuit of new ideas, all these things keeps your mind elastic. – Patti Smith
I always wanted to be an artist, writer and poet since I was seven, and one has to live long enough to evolve as an artist and do one’s finest work. – Patti Smith
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. – Patti Smith
Everyone thinks of God as a man – you can’t help it – Santa Claus was a man, therefore God has to be a man. – Patti Smith
My parents had three kids right after the Second World War, and we were all sort of sickly. Then I had a fourth sibling, with very serious asthma. The medical bills… So my parents always struggled. – Patti Smith
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. – Patti Smith
I don’t think public life in and of itself can destroy you. I think it’s the way people react to it, and some people are more sturdy than others… I don’t think any one faction can be blamed for a person’s self destruction – a certain amount of that has to be innate. – Patti Smith
No, my work does not reflect my sexual preferences, it reflects the fact that I feel total freedom as an artist. – Patti Smith