1.
If Graffiti is art and art is a crime then how come piccaso never done time?
Melvin Glover
If Graffiti is an artistic expression and creative infringement is a transgression, then why has Pablo Picasso never been penalized?
2.
People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish... but that's only if it's done properly.
Banksy
'It is often claimed that graffiti is unsightly, irresponsible and immature... but only if it is done correctly.'
3.
Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don't come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they're having a piss.
Banksy
'Graffiti can be a powerful weapon for those with limited resources, and even if it doesn't solve global issues it can bring joy to someone relieving themselves.'
4.
After pop art, graffiti is probably the biggest art movement in recent history to have such an impact on culture.
Jeffrey Deitch
Subsequent to pop art, graffiti is likely the most influential artistic trend of late to have such a pervasive impact on society.
5.
Speak softly, but carry a big can of paint.
Banksy
Utter gently, but bring a large tin of pigment.
6.
Graffiti doesn't exist unless someone got a photo, because it's gone immediately.
Jeffrey Deitch
'Street art is ephemeral unless captured on film, since its lifespan is fleeting.'
7.
Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing.
Banksy
Street art is one of the few resources you have if you have almost nothing.
8.
Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place.
Banksy
9.
Writing graffiti is about the most honest way you can be an artist. It takes no money to do it, you don't need an education to understand it, and there's no admission fee.
Banksy
10.
One piece of graffiti doesn't mean much. Forty pieces of graffiti might mean something... It's all about connecting the dots.
Kim Rossmo
12.
A wall is a very big weapon. It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with.
Banksy
15.
When you can't think of anything else, photograph graffiti, nudes, or plants.
Bill Jay
16.
Is graffiti art or vandalism? That word has a lot of negative connotations and it alienates people, so no, I don't like to use the word 'art' at all.
Banksy
17.
I've never really considered myself just a street artist. I consider myself a populist.
Shepard Fairey
18.
I don't think you should have to pay to look at graffiti. You should only pay if you want to get rid of it.
Banksy
19.
Some people are enraged, and some people are applauding. If there were a mission statement for graffiti, that would be it.
Barry McGee
20.
Look at the blogosphere - the biggest lavatory wall in the universe, a palimpsest of graffiti and execration.
A.C. Grayling
21.
The mistake that was made in the '70s is we stopped policing the streets, we stopped cleaning the streets, we stopped cleaning the graffiti off buildings, we stopped supporting our cultural institutions and building parks and schools and all those kinds of things.
Michael Bloomberg
22.
Should #‎ graffiti be judged on the same level as modern art? Of course not: It's way more important than that
Banksy
23.
Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was
Banksy
24.
Obviously murder and graffiti are two vastly different crimes. But they are part of the same continuum, and a climate that tolerates one is more likely to tolerate the other.
Rudy Giuliani
25.
It's strange with graffiti. You put a lot out, but you don't get that much back because not many people know who's doing it. You have your peers of about 10 guys who know you are the one painting.
KAWS
26.
Now everybody's bloggin'. I heard somebody say, "Blogging is just graffiti with punctuation." Everyone's an authority so there's nobody in power, 'cause everyone thinks they're in power.
Ice T
27.
I didn't have much of a life in crime as a graffiti writer.
Ryan McGinley
28.
I originally set out to try and save the world, but now I'm not sure I like it enough.
Banksy
29.
His achievements read like the graffiti on the walls of a hangman's changing room.
Jonathan Larson
30.
When absolutes are abandoned for principles, the U.S. Constitution becomes a blank slate for anyone’s graffiti.
Wayne LaPierre
31.
Graffiti is only dangerous in the mind of three types of people; politicians, advertising executives and graffiti writers.
Banksy
32.
Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.
Banksy
33.
The grumpier you are, the more assholes you meet.
Banksy
34.
One of the interesting things about skateboarding and graffiti is that skateboarding exists in the documentation of an act.
Jeffrey Deitch
35.
Graffiti is linear and it's done with a pencil, and it's like writing on walls. But in my paintings it's more lyrical.
Cy Twombly
36.
What harm cause not those huge draughts or pictures which wanton youth with chalk or coals draw in each passage, wall or stairs of our great houses, whence a cruel contempt of our natural store is bred in them?
Michel de Montaigne
37.
I want to make the world a better place, for women, mainly.
Clare Balding
38.
Graffiti is a lot easier than the canvas actually, because it's such a large format, so when you're going to such a thin detail, it's not that thin in the realm of things because it's such a big wall. This would take a small paint brush of detail, but on a huge wall, if that's the size of a building, the thinnest detail is still that big, it's a quick spray. Spray paint is easiest for me. I love spray paint.
Alec Monopoly
39.
You know, you'd hide behind a Public Enemy or Ice Cube, or Bruce Springsteen, or U2, because they spoke for you. But now everybody's bloggin'. I heard somebody say, "Blogging is just graffiti with punctuation." Everyone's an authority so there's nobody in power, 'cause everyone thinks they're in power.
Ice T
40.
I used to tell everyone I met to be an artist..... I don't do that any more.
Banksy
41.
All graffiti is low-level dissent, but stencils have an extra history. They've been used to start revolutions and to stop wars
Banksy
42.
You find [reverberations from 9/11 ] in them most unexpected places, like graffiti on a wall. Sometimes it's a faded picture; sometimes it's a newspaper tacked to a wall. Sometimes it's weird paraphernalia related to it, home constructed paraphernalia. It resonates through society and continues to resonate today.
Peter van Agtmael
43.
I am writing graffiti on your body. I am drawing the story of how hard we tried.
Ani DiFranco
45.
I have a company that does design and animation, so obviously graffiti is definitely an intricate part of what we admire and respect in the art world.
Mick Ebeling
46.
A digital sound sample in angry rap doesn't correspond to the graffiti but the wall.
Jaron Lanier
47.
Bin Laden was very keen to point out to me that his forces had fought the Americans in Somalia. He also wanted to talk about how many mullahs in Pakistan were putting up posters saying, "We follow bin Laden." He even produced a sort of Kodak set of snapshots of graffiti supporting him.
Robert Fisk
48.
The parts of graffiti I like are really antagonizing still - it's not something that a museum would really embrace.
Barry McGee
49.
I always try to find time to do some graffiti here and there, but most of the time, I have so many walls that are given to me now, so anytime I want to go out and do something illegal, I can just do it legally.
Alec Monopoly
50.
Graffiti is something written on a wall, and, of course, art can be exhibited or produced anywhere: a wall is just another venue.
Matthew Slotover