I like energy. I like to feel it cracklin', I like sexual energy in a room, and I like tension. Patti Smith More Quotes by Patti Smith More Quotes From Patti Smith Americans just don't know what being a movie star's all about. Patti Smith movie actors stars I think it's important for people to realize that we were all young, all naive, and also we had lived in a time that had magic. Patti Smith magic people thinking I always enjoyed doing transgender songs. Patti Smith transgender enjoyed song Your soul was like a network of spittle. Patti Smith your-soul soul expression The best thing is to motivate people to do their own work. I'm not opposed to making money. But I started to play rock 'n' roll to motivate others, to shake things up, wake people up and to let other skinny, pimply marginalized weirdos know they're not alone. Patti Smith rocks play people I'm estranged from social media and I don't really deal with it. I tried to work on a website and it took up all my time. People wanted me to have a Twitter account and I spent the whole day figuring out what would be the first message. I still haven't wrapped my head around it. Patti Smith media would-be people The only way I can lose my mind in bed is to destroy myself in a fantasy. Patti Smith bed mind way I have abandoned so many projects but in the '80s when I left public life to be married and have real children - I love my children and I would never sacrifice them for anything - I had to find a way to simultaneously be a mother and wife and fulfill my duties and still be true to myself as a writer. Patti Smith real mother children Technology is 50% of rock 'n' roll - the magic, the art, the performance. If you don't have good technicians and a strong road crew who are devoted and believe in you and protect you, you're totally naked. Patti Smith strong believe art Life is like a roller coaster. It's never going to be perfect - it is going to have perfect moments, and then rough spots, but it's all worth it. Patti Smith life-is-like moments perfect 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 artist house ordinary Punk rock is just another word for freedom. Patti Smith punk-rock punk rocks I think some of that hopelessness of my generation got passed on to later generations - the sense of uselessness. Patti Smith hopelessness generations thinking 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 embrace want people Steven [Sebring] was documenting me as a widow with two children, going from 50 to 60 years old. My focus, during that time, was to rediscover myself, stay healthy, take care of my kids and reestablish a relationship with the people. Patti Smith kids children years ...my camera is my friend, and I take it everywhere. Patti Smith my-friends cameras I would always say to anyone, you make choices that are important to you. Don't allow yourself to be exploited by something as fleeting as fame and fortune. If you're presenting yourself in a way that important to you in communicating your vision, then so be it. No one should allow themselves to be exploited ever. Patti Smith vision important choices I started resenting how much art robs from life. I'd go to a party and I couldn't enjoy myself, even sexually. All I could think was how I was going to reinvent the experience into a piece of art. Patti Smith pieces art thinking I never had aspirations to go into politics or medicine. I always wanted to be an artist of some sort. I wasn't so politically motivated. I felt that the world from an early age was disappointing. My father taught me about the bomb, and it was eye-opening. From then on, I thought grown-ups needed to do a better job. I still think that. Patti Smith eye jobs father We wanted, it seemed, what we already had, a lover and a friend to create with, side by side. To be loyal, yet be free. Patti Smith loyal lovers sides