Patti Smith Quotes

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Patti Smith

Profession : Musician

Birth : December 30, 1946

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 loved being a rock and roll star, but it wasn't what I wanted in life.

Patti Smith

It was always my belief that rock and roll belonged in the hands of the people, not rock stars.

Patti Smith

I'm not part of any movement; I don't like being fettered.

Patti Smith

My siblings were a bit younger than me, and I was always entertaining them and making up stories.

Patti Smith

I was quite an insomniac. I rarely slept as a child. Having God to talk to at night was nice.

Patti Smith

My son and daughter lost their father quite young, so we keep him present with us. It's just a daily practice.

Patti Smith

I was a sickly child, not very strong physically. I wasn't really the greatest in school. I didn't really excel in anything particularly. But I was happy with who I was.

Patti Smith

Throughout my life, I happily deferred to family, companions, children.

Patti Smith

I have a lot of energy, and I like to work.

Patti Smith

I come from a working-class family, and I've been working since I was 13, from babysitting to blueberry picking to factory work to bookstore work. And of course, being a mother and homemaker, the hardest work of all.

Patti Smith

I just do my work, and I work every day, and my ambition is just to do something better than I last did.

Patti Smith

As I go through life, I can see why my mother directed me that way, or why my father counseled me in that way. But some things you're open to when you're young, and some things you need to find out for yourself. I think that that's pretty universal.

Patti Smith

I try not to give too much advice, really, because people have to do their things their way. I got lots of advice when I was young, and I ignored most of it - the good and the bad.

Patti Smith

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

I come from a real working class background, and I didn't know anyone sophisticated - except I saw Edie Sedgewick once at the Art Museum in Philly. She had these black leotards and little black pumps and this big ermine cape and all these white dogs and black sunglasses and black eyes. She was classy!

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

You're not a rock n' roll person four hours a day or even when you're on stage. It's become the rhythm of your whole life.

Patti Smith

What I wanted in life always was to write something as good as 'Pinocchio.' I wanted to write. I wanted to evolve. I wanted to grow.

Patti Smith

For everything bad, there's a million really exciting things, whether it's someone puts out a really great book, there's a new movie, there's a new detective, the sky is unbelievably golden, or you have the best cup of coffee you ever had in your life.

Patti Smith