Patti Smith

"I came into music because I thought the presentation of poetry wasn't vibrant enough. So I merged improvised poetry with basic rock chords. That was my original mission."

"I work to Glenn Gould in the morning and go to sleep listening to Parsifal."

"In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth."

"My mom loved rock 'n roll. My father hated it. We couldn't play it when he was around."

"My parents had three kids right after the Second World War, and we were all sort of sickly. Then I had a fourth sibling, with very serious asthma. The medical bills... So my parents always struggled."

"The Bible is very resonant. It has everything: creation, betrayal, lust, poetry, prophecy, sacrifice. All great things are in the Bible, and all great writers have drawn from it and more than people realise, whether Shakespeare, Herman Melville or Bob Dylan."

"The new artists coming through were very materialistic and Hollywood, not so engaged in communication."

"The thing is, 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."

"When I was younger, I felt it was my duty to wake people up. I thought poetry was asleep. I thought rock 'n' roll was asleep."