If you feel dirty, insignificant or unloved, then rats are a good role model. They exist without permission, they have no respect for the hierarchy of society, and they have sex 50 times a day.
BanksyRead
People are fond of using military terms to describe what they do. We call it bombing when we go out painting, when of course it's more like entertaining the troops in a neutral zone, during peacetime in a country without an army.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the irony of using militaristic language in artistic expression.
Banksy's quote critiques the tendency to apply aggressive military terminology to artistic endeavors, suggesting a disconnect between the brutality of war and the peaceful nature of art. By comparing painting to 'entertaining the troops in a neutral zone', he emphasizes that art should foster understanding and creativity rather than conflict, reflecting on society's often misguided use of language.
Themes
ArtMilitaryLanguageIronyExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about modern art, one might say, 'As Banksy suggests, we must be careful about the language we choose when discussing artistic endeavors.'
More from Banksy
All quotes →T.V. has made going to the theatre seem pointless, photography has pretty much killed painting but graffiti has remained gloriously unspoilt by progress.
BanksyRead
I originally set out to try and save the world, but now I'm not sure I like it enough.
BanksyRead
Graffiti ultimately wins out over proper art because it becomes part of your city, it' s a tool; "I'll meet you in that pub, you know, the one opposite that wall with a picture of a monkey holding a chainsaw". I mean, how much more useful can a painting be than that?
BanksyRead
Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a f**king sharp knife to it.
BanksyRead
Gaza is often described as 'the world's largest open air prison' because no-one is allowed to enter or leave. But that seems a bit unfair to prisons - they don’t have their electricity and drinking water cut off randomly almost every day.
BanksyRead
Similar quotes
I immersed myself in books and rock 'n' roll, the adolescent salvation.
Patti SmithRead
I found that dance, music, and literature is how I made sense of the world... it pushed me to think of things bigger than life's daily routines... to think beyond what is immediate or convenient.
Mikhail BaryshnikovRead
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
Thomas MertonRead
I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.
John RuskinRead
You can't have it all one way - be on the telly and the radio and make lots of money - and not offer anything to your followers when they need you.
Vera LynnRead
He asked, "what makes a man a writer?" "well," I said, "it's simple, it's either you get it down on paper or you jump off a bridge. writers are desperate people and when they stop being desperate they stop being writers." "are you desperate?" "I don't know.
Charles BukowskiRead