Welcome to our collection of insightful and inspiring Patti Smith quotes. Patti Smith, a legendary figure in the realms of music, poetry, and art, has left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape with her raw talent, profound lyrics, and unapologetic authenticity. As a trailblazing artist, Smith’s words resonate with a timeless power, offering both wisdom and rebellion to those who seek it. Through her music and poetry, she has challenged societal norms, celebrated individuality, and sparked revolutions of the mind.
Known for her captivating performances and thought-provoking lyrics, Patti Smith has garnered acclaim for her ability to capture the essence of the human experience with unparalleled honesty and depth. Whether she’s singing about love, loss, or the struggles of the marginalized, Smith’s words possess a rare intensity that cuts straight to the heart of the matter. Her influence extends far beyond the realms of music, inspiring generations of artists, activists, and dreamers to embrace their true selves and stand up for what they believe in.
My father’s mother was from Liverpool and she had this very beautiful English china. I only wanted to drink my cocoa out of my grandmother’s cup and saucer. Patti Smith
To me, punk rock is the freedom to create, freedom to be successful, freedom to not be successful, freedom to be who you are. It’s freedom. Patti Smith
New York is a great city. There is no question of that. It’s such a diverse city. I’ve walked down the city and heard four or five different languages simultaneously. I think that’s beautiful. Patti Smith
What I say should always be prefaced with this: I’m not really politically articulate. I just try to be like Thomas Paine: what is common sense? So when I say these things to you, I am speaking from a humanist point of view. I just look around and see what’s wrong. Patti Smith
Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine. 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
When I was a child, I was certain that I could remember what it was like to live on Venus; I could remember what it was like to live in the American Plains. I could remember. And it’s ancient memory. We all have it. It’s just that some of us access it more than others. Patti Smith
More than anything, that’s been the thread through my life – the desire to write, the impulse to write. I mean, it’s taken me other places, but it was the impulse to write that led me to singing. Patti Smith
From very early on in my childhood – four, five years old – I felt alien to the human race. I felt very comfortable with thinking I was from another planet, because I felt disconnected – I was very tall and skinny, and I didn’t look like anybody else, I didn’t even look like any member of my family. Patti Smith
There is hardly a place in New York that you can’t walk a block and a half and get a cup of coffee. Believe me, I’ve been all over the world. There’s no place like that but New York City. Patti Smith
Somehow I started introducing writing into my drawings, and after a time, the language took over and I started getting very involved with the handwriting and then the look of the handwriting. Patti Smith
In the period where I had to live the life of a citizen – a life where, like everybody else, I did tons of laundry and cleaned toilet bowls, changed hundreds of diapers and nursed children – I learned a lot. Patti Smith
We have such a great depth of human history in all of the arts, whether it’s opera or mathematics or painting or classical music or jazz. There’s so many things to study, new books to read, and certainly always ways to transform old ideas and to come up with new ones. Patti Smith
The idea of redemption is always good news, even if it means sacrifice or some difficult times. Patti Smith
Maybe I’ll be 48 and die in the gutter in Paris. 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
The issue of gender was never my biggest concern; my biggest concern was doing good work. When the feminist movement really got going, I wasn’t an active part of it because I was more concerned with my own mental pursuits. Patti Smith
I love playing the Fillmore. I love the walk from the hotel and climbing up those old, iron stairs that lead to the stage. I imagine Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix and the Doors and all those other great bands climbing those same stairs. Patti Smith
I was studying Francis of Assisi for quite some time, when Benedict was still the pope. And I was studying it for a song that I did for my last album, ‘Banga.’ 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
I don’t stay in one discipline because it’s more lucrative than another. In fact, the most successful thing I ever did was ‘Just Kids,’ for which I had absolutely no expectations. 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
Never let go of that fiery sadness called desire. Patti Smith
As a citizen, hopefully I’m humanist. As an artist, I’m free. Patti Smith
Christianity made us think there’s one heaven. 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
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
I have great respect for my parents. I got such beautiful things from both of them. It doesn’t mean that we didn’t have our rough times, but they were remarkable people who were open-minded, creative and hard-working, and had great senses of humor. Patti Smith
I’m an intuitive musician. I have no real technical skills. I can only play six chords on the guitar. Patti Smith
As far as I’m concerned, being any gender is a drag. Patti Smith
I wrote every day. I don’t think I could have written ‘Just Kids’ had I not spent all of the 80s developing my craft as a writer. Patti Smith
I’ve always felt outside of things; I’ve always felt different. 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
People called me the godmother of punk, but I never name myself anything. Patti Smith
Rock n’ roll is dream soup, what’s your brand? Patti Smith
Robert Mapplethorpe, I met in 1967. He was a student at Pratt, though even as a student a fully formed artist. We went through many things in our life together. He became my loved one, then my best friend. Patti Smith
I dreamed of having a book of my own, of writing one that I could put on a shelf. Patti Smith
Nothing will stifle your human evolution more than fame and fortune. Patti Smith
I never thought I was gonna live to 30. 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
A lot of children don’t have a developed aesthetic. I did. I made early choices in life, even about cloth; I liked flannel and not polyester. Patti Smith
If I’ve learned one thing in life, it’s not to be so judgmental of other people. Patti Smith
If you feel good about who you are inside, it will radiate. Patti Smith
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. Patti Smith
It’s not uncool to worry about people who seem like they’re going on the wrong path. There’s nothing cool about being self-destructive. Patti Smith
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. Patti Smith
My mission is to stay healthy and productive and serve as a good example. Patti Smith
I was raised Jehovah’s Witness. I was in Bible school at five or six years old, but I wouldn’t say that we were a religious family. Patti Smith
We tried not to age, but time had its rage. Patti Smith
I loved books; I read my childhood away. I was more interested in my interior world. Patti Smith
I was never a singer; I can’t play any instruments; I had no training. Plus, I was brought up in a time when all the great rock stars were male. I didn’t have any template for what I was doing. I did what I did out of frustration and concern. Patti Smith
All I’ve ever wanted, since I was a child, was to do something wonderful. Patti Smith
I wanted to go to Portland because it’s a really good book town. Patti Smith
First of all, anybody who has lasted 30 and went through the 60’s is really a survivor. Patti Smith
Americans just don’t know what being a movie star’s all about. Patti Smith
I had a really happy childhood – my siblings were great, my mother was very fanciful, and I loved to read. But there was always financial strife. Patti Smith
Even as a child, I knew what I didn’t want. I didn’t want to wear red lipstick. Patti Smith
Truthfully, I don’t really think of myself as a photographer. I don’t have all the disciplines and knowledge of a person who’s spent their life devoted to photography. Patti Smith
I don’t think the area of Jerusalem should be part of a Jewish state; it belongs to all people, to Christians and Muslims and the Jewish people. 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
My parents were very humanistic, but where we lived was not the cultural center of the world. Hardly. So I came to New York for two reasons: to find my own kin and also to get a job. And that’s what I came to New York for in ’67. Patti Smith
Everyone has a creative impulse, and has the right to create, and should. Patti Smith
An artist may have burdens the ordinary citizen doesn’t know, but the ordinary citizen has burdens that many artists never even touch. Patti Smith
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. Patti Smith
Let’s just say that I think any person who aspires, presumes, or feels the calling to be an artist has a built-in sense of duty. Patti Smith
I’m a human being, I’m a friend, I’m a mom, I’m a writer, and I’m an artist. I do play electric guitar and all of that, but in the end, I’m just a person. Patti Smith
I knew William Burroughs really well, and I was always star struck being around him. I adored him. Patti Smith
I’ve written a lot of prose. I just haven’t published it. Patti Smith
In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth. Patti Smith
I have a daughter who’s 11 years old. Maybe she’ll grow up independent and really really heavy and become a movie star and she’ll play me in my life story. Patti Smith
In fact, I thought my calling was to be a painter. Patti Smith
Sometimes you’re doing really well, then, after three or four years, everything inexplicably crashes like a house of cards and you have to rebuild it. It’s not like you get to a point where you’re all right for the rest of your life. Patti Smith
My style says, ‘Look at me, don’t look at me.’ Patti Smith
When I stopped performing for 16 years and lived in Michigan and was married and raising my children, I wrote about four or five books. I haven’t published them. I just haven’t gotten around to it for several reasons. Patti Smith
I always enjoyed doing transgender songs. Patti Smith
My dad got a job in a factory in Philadelphia, so I was raised in Germantown in a sort of a barracks for soldiers. They had housing for temporary housing. And then my parents saved money and bought a little house in South Jersey, built on a swamp. Patti Smith
It was always my belief that rock and roll belonged in the hands of the people, not rock stars. Patti Smith
The new artists coming through were very materialistic and Hollywood, not so engaged in communication. Patti Smith
People wouldn’t know this about me, but I adore ball gowns. I love their cut, their architecture and the thought of the hands of so many seamstresses working on them. Patti Smith
An artist is somebody who enters into competition with God. Patti Smith
Mohammed personally mapped out seven heavens. If he got to seven, you know there’s more. Patti Smith
If I have any regrets, I could say that I’m sorry I wasn’t a better writer or a better singer. Patti Smith
‘M Train’ is as close to knowing what I’m like as anything. I don’t know exactly what the book is about. All and nothing, I suppose. Patti Smith
I think I’m constantly in a state of adjustment. 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
Polaroid by its nature makes you frugal. You walk around with maybe two packs of film in your pocket. You have 20 shots, so each shot is a world. Patti Smith
Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand. Patti Smith
As I grew up, one of my strongest allies has been my sister. Patti Smith
An artist wears his work in place of wounds. Patti Smith
I had to learn, really, how to rein in my energies and discipline myself. And I found it very very useful. I rebelled against it at first, but it’s a good thing to have. Patti Smith
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. 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
Besides me wanting to be an artist, I wanted to be a movie star. 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 sunglasses are like my guitar. Patti Smith
I like gettin’ old. Patti Smith
People have the power to redeem the work of fools. 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
I work to Glenn Gould in the morning and go to sleep listening to Parsifal. Patti Smith
I like really hot coffee, not too strong. Patti Smith
