Your own acts tell the world who you are and what kind of society you think it should be. - Ai Weiwei

I think strategically China has come to a very crucial moment. They [the government] have to re-justify themselves. Even the past 20 to 30 years are based on a kind of destructive, suicidal act. Now they are trying to reach a higher level, but I think in any society, culture should have its own rights: not to be touched by the government, not to be promoted by the government, also not to be destroyed by the government.

When I returned to China [from the United States], I didn’t have a U.S. passport, a wife, or a university degree. From the Chinese point of view, I was a total failure.

My voice is not for me. Every time I make a sentence I think how many people for how many generations had a voice that no one could hear. At most they will be remembered as numbers; in many cases, even numbers don’t exist.