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.”

“I was quite an insomniac. I rarely slept as a child. Having God to talk to at night was nice.”

“When I'm writing a book, I don't have any responsibility to anyone. I'm solitary. I'm writing on my own. I write by hand. And I write every day. I mean, it's part of my daily discipline.”

“As I go through life, I can see why my mother directed me that way, or why my father counseled me in that way. But some things you're open to when you're young, and some things you need to f...”

“Rock n' roll is dream soup, what's your brand?”

“I've always believed in having a sense of balance and stealth.”

“My sunglasses are like my guitar.”

“C'mon, I mean who didn't listen to 'The Who' in the 60s?”

“I liked being on stage; I just didn't like the theatrical aspect of being in front of people.”

“I always enjoyed doing transgender songs.”

“I was so unhealthy as a child, and at least three or four times my parents were told to get ready, that I would not make it.”

“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 wa...”

“I'm a worker. I do the work to communicate, and I want people to embrace it, and when they do I'm happy.”

“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.”