Make your interactions with people transformational, not just transactional. Patti Smith More Quotes by Patti Smith More Quotes From Patti Smith Arthur Conan Doyle had to be Sherlock Holmes in order to envision how Sherlock Holmes would unravel a mystery. He had to be in Sherlock's situations. As a writer, you have to be of two minds. Patti Smith mind two order 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 crafts kids thinking It was no hardship to me to spend long hours reading and writing. Patti Smith reading writing long As an artist, I used to think that my responsibility was to do good work. But I had to learn from the 70s on that being a public figure presents another aspect of responsibility. Patti Smith artist responsibility thinking I'm an intuitive musician. I have no real technical skills. I can only play six chords on the guitar. Patti Smith guitar real play Committing great work does not necessarily feed you. Patti Smith great-work doe Not everything we do as artists has deep intent. If we push barriers, that's great, but sometimes we just do our work. Whether we make some kind of statement, consciously or unconsciously, we shouldn't take the innocence away from what we do. Patti Smith innocence kind artist I refuse to believe that Hendrix had the last possessed hand, that Joplin had the last drunken throat, that Morrison had the last enlightened mind. Patti Smith mind believe hands Toyland, toyland . . . once you pass its portals you may never return again. Patti Smith portal return may Well, I'm not one of those people who needs the limelight. If I'm performing, that's what I'm doing. If I'm not, I don't long for it. I don't need the approval of an audience, or applause. Patti Smith long people needs 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 secret desire writing Why do people want to know exactly who I am? Am I a poet? Am I this or that? I've always made people wary. First they called me a rock poet. Then I was a poet that dabbled in rock. Then I was a rock person who dabbled in art. Patti Smith rocks who-i-am art In any performance, you're on stage for two hours, and there's 40 seconds or maybe a whole five minutes where you feel like the whole universe is in place, and you've gone even beyond the universe that you know. Patti Smith hours universe John Coltrane, he talks to god. He starts playing his solo, he might play for 14 minutes. For 14 minutes, it seems like he's talking to god, but he always takes a hold of the melody. Patti Smith coltrane melody Sometimes I get lost in watching a film. The sorrow, or the frustration, is when it doesn't happen for a long time. Patti Smith frustration sorrow long What is the impulse that drove to direct? To me, it seems so immense. Just having a rock 'n' roll band, or to go from the solitude of writing and to having to collaborate, is almost schizophrenic. Patti Smith impulse solitude writing Christianity made us think there's one heaven. Patti Smith good-christian heaven thinking We have to believe, as creators - just like a doctor doing heart surgery has to believe that he can save that person's life. You have to believe that your pursuit is not just a noble pursuit, but a necessary and inborn pursuit to uncover something. Patti Smith surgery heart believe 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. Patti Smith book children years 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 humanity mean dirty
