The Birds Nest National Stadium, which I helped to conceive, is designed to embody the Olympic spirit of fair competition. It tells people that freedom is possible but needs fairness, courage and strength. – Ai Weiwei
When you have strict censorship of the internet, young students cannot receive a full education. Their view of the world is imbalanced. There can be no true discussion of the issues. – Ai Weiwei
If we all say the same thing, then I think the government has to listen. But because no one is saying it, I become singled out, even though what Im saying is common sense. Its very essential values that we all have to protect. But in Chinese society, people are giving up on protecting these values. – Ai Weiwei
To work in architecture you are so much involved with society, with politics, with bureaucrats. Its a very complicated process to do large projects. You start to see the society, how it functions, how it works. Then you have a lot of criticism about how it works. – Ai Weiwei
Without cancer, I never would have won a single Tour de France. Cancer taught me a plan for more purposeful living, and that in turn taught me how to train and to win more purposefully. It taught me that pain has a reason, and that sometimes the experience of losing things – Lance Armstrong