Quotes: Patti Smith

"Nobody says "Picasso, the male artist."

–– Patti Smith (b. 1946), American writer, poet, singer-songwriter and musician 

Source: women in art, Instagram, December 31, 2024.

Quotes: Patti Smith

"We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves."

–– Patti Smith (b. 1946), American writer, poet, singer-songwriter and musician 

via: Sketchbook N 14, 2024, p. 41.

Quotes: Patti Smith

"When we got to the part where we had to improvise an argument in a poetic language, I got cold feet. "I can't do this," I said. "I don't know what to say."

"Say anything," he said. "You can't make a mistake when you improvise."

"What if I mess it up? What if I screw up the rhythm?"

"You can't," he said. "It's like drumming. If you miss a beat, you create another."

"In this simple exchange, Sam taught me the secret of improvisation, one that I have accessed my whole life."

–– Patti Smith (b. 1946), American writer, poet, singer-songwriter and musician 

Source: Patti Smith. Just Kids. New York: HarperCollins Books, 2010; p. 185. re: writing the play Cowboy Mouth with the American playwright Sam Shepard. 

Women's quotes: Patti Smith

"I daydream a lot –– that's how I get my ideas. If I'm sitting in a café, I'm not on my phone because I want to hear my mind. I think that those periods of small solitude that we are losing are so important." 

–– Patti Smith (b. 1946), American writer, poet, singer-songwriter and musician