Ai Weiwei Quotes

The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and well-being.

Cultural variety is always worth striving for, but must never precede the declaration of human rights.

A modern civilization is only possible when it is accepted that singular beings exist and express themselves freely.

Where humanity is going to find itself in, say, 20, 30, 40, or 50 years would be very difficult to predict, I think. There are moments, of course, when you think that it's going from bad to worse, but there are other moments when you think that human efforts are really flowering into something really fantastic.

Things change in different countries as people grow, and as generations change.

We have been talking with leaders: Change is coming; you can no longer have a closed regime with an open society - satellites, social media, the Internet - you have this kind, this kind of society moving forward, and you are running this closed regime; this is not sustainable. This cannot continue.

For us democracy is a question of human dignity. And human dignity is political freedom.

The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.

Human rights is a universal standard. It is a component of every religion and every civilization.

All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man.

Dictators will be replaced, not by civil war and terrorism, but by organized nonviolent movements that will insure that freedom, human rights, and dignity will be honored under all flags.

The right to education and to free speech having been gained for woman, in the long run every other good thing was sure to be obtained.

A culture is not an abstract thing. It is a living, evolving process. The aim is to push beyond standard-setting and asserting human rights to make those standards a living reality for people everywhere.

… modern civilization … enables us to cure sickness on a huge scale and to destroy each other on a huge scale. It enables us to liberate each other on a huge scale and to tyrannize each other on a huge scale…. There is no evidence of any continuous upward line of social progress

Issues that until recently were matters were matters of local prerogative, such as representations of the prophet Muhammad, are often [now] geographically unconfined.

We must continue to prove to the world that we can provide a rising standard of living for all men without loss of civil rights or human dignity to any man.

In the literal sense, there has been no relevant evolution since the trek from Africa. But there has been substantial progress towards higher standards of rights, justice and freedom - along with all too many illustrations of how remote is the goal of a decent society.

The country is moving to a more open society.

I fundamentally believe in freedom and human rights.

The world is less homophobic, depending on where you are in the world... As a gay man I feel very strongly about those issues around the world - there've been huge changes and developments, but there are still places where things are scary.

Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity.

Now we are in the second term of the government of a united nation and the government has done very well. One thing they have done, one thing people could not be blind to, was the achievement this government has made in giving human beings dignity, which they did not enjoy before. They now have dignity.

America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.... ...Liberty will come to those who love it.

We should not be followers of traditions that go against human rights...we are human beings and we make traditions.

My whole thing is I don't take from Castro being an intelligent man as long as he is doing the thing that needs to be done. But the thing is at the end of the day you're not bettering the island. You're only making it worse. So, for me it's just making sure that people have the right to speak their minds and have an opportunity in life to better their life.