Banksy quotes

Remember crime against property is not real crime. People look at an oil painting and admire the use of brushstrokes to convey meaning. People look at a graffiti painting and admire the use of a drainpipe to gain access.

A recent survey or North American males found 42% were overweight, 34% were critically obese and 8% ate the survey.

You don't need planning permission to build castles in the sky

People who enjoy waving flags don't deserve to have one.

Traditional graffiti writers have a bunch of rules they like to stick to, and good luck to them, but I didn't become a graffiti artist so I could have somebody else tell me what to do. If you're the type who gets sentimental about people scribbling over your stuff, I suggest graffiti is probably not the right hobby for you.

My lawyer's opinion is that the cops might not actually be able to charge me with criminal damage any more - because theoretically my graffiti actually increases the value of property rather than decreasing it. That's his theory, but then my lawyer also believes wearing novelty cartoon ties is a good look.

We can't do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.

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.

There's nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place.

People seem to think if they dress like a revolutionary they don`t actually have to behave like one.

This is a big surprise I don't agree with the concept of award ceremonies, but I'm prepared to make an exception for the ones I'm nominated for. The last time there was a naked man covered in gold paint in my house, it was me.

I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.

As far as I can tell the only thing worth looking at in most museums of art is all the schoolgirls on daytrips with the art departments.

You owe the companies nothing. You especially don't owe them any courtesy. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs.

A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to.

Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent, leave the house before you find something worth staying in for.

The bad artists imitate, the great artists steal.

I don't know if street art ever really works indoors. If you domesticate an animal, it goes from being wild and free to sterile, fat and sleepy. So maybe the art should stay outside.

Live as a villain, die as a hero

I have a theory that you can make any sentence seem profound by writing the name of a dead philosopher at the end of it.

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.

Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was

I used to tell everyone I met to be an artist..... I don't do that any more.

The people who run our cities dont understand graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit... the people who truly deface our neighborhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff.... any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours, it belongs to you ,, its yours to take, rearrange and re use.Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

When he time comes to leave, just walk away quietly and don't make any fuss.

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.

The difference between freedom and slavery is one thin line

If Michaelangelo or Leonardo Da Vinci were alive today they’d be making Avatar, not painting a chapel.

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.

If at first you don't succeed, Call an airstrike.

Film is incredibly democratic and accessible, it's probably the best option if you actually want to change the world, not just re-decorate it.

It doesn't take much to be a successful artist-all you need to do is dedicate your entire life to it.

Today's art has been cancelled due to police activity.

It's impossible to predict which paintings will last and which won't. In New Orleans I painted on a dilapidated shop in a street littered with abandoned cars and rotting mattresses, then two hours later the piece was gone. It turned out I'd picked the side of a crack house and the proprietor didn't like the attention.

The art world is the biggest joke going. It's a rest home for the overprivileged, the pretentious, and the weak. And modern art is a disgrace - never have so many people used so much stuff and taken so long to say so little.

Although you might have to creep about at night and lie to your mum it’s actually one of the more honest art forms available. There is no elitism or hype, it exhibits on the best walls a town has to offer and nobody is put off by the price of admission.

Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a f**king sharp knife to it.

I think its pretty clear that film is the pre-eminent art form of our age. If Michaelangelo or Leonardo Da Vinci were alive today they’d be making Avatar, not painting a chapel. Film is incredibly democratic and accessible, it’s probably the best option if you actually want to change the world, not just re-decorate it.

People who get up early in the morning cause war, death and famine.

The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists.. 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.

The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages.

It's a very frustrated feeling you get when the only people with good photos of you work are the police department.

On Painting Rats, and the Glorification of Them. They exist without permission. They are hated, hunted and persecuted. They live in quiet desperation amongst the filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilizations to their knees. If you are dirty, insignificant, and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model.

The grumpier you are, the more assholes you meet.

All graffiti is low-level dissent, but stencils have an extra history. They've been used to start revolutions and to stop wars

Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else.

The human race is the most stupid and unfair kind of race. A lot of the runners don't even get decent sneakers or clean drinking water. Some runners are born with a massive head start, every possible help along the way and still the referees seem to be on their side. It's not surprising a lot of people have given up compeating altogether and gone to sit in the grandstand, eat junk and shout abuse. What the human race needs is a lot more streakers.

Some people represent authority without ever possessing any of their own.

I don't believe in anything. I'm just here for the violence.

Once upon a time there was a bear and a bee who lived in a wood and were the best of friends. All summer long the bee collected nectar from morning to night while the bear lay on his back basking in the long grass. When winter came the bear realised he had nothing to eat and thought to himself 'I hope that busy little bee will share some of his honey with me.' But the bee was nowhere to be found - he had died of a stress induced coronary disease.

Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing.

I wouldnt want to be remembered as the guy who contaminated a perfectly legitimate form of protest art with money and celebrities.

I know street art can feel increasingly like the marketing wing of an art career, so I wanted to make some art without the price tag attached. There's no gallery show or book or film. It's pointless. Which hopefully means something.

People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish... but that's only if it's done properly.

The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Any fame is a by-product of making something that means something. You don't go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a sh*t.

Some people criticize me for using sources that are a bit low brow (this quote is from 'Gladiator') but you know what? 'I'm just going to use that hostility to make me stronger, not weaker' as Kelly Rowland said on the X Factor.

Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

There's obviously nothing wrong with selling your art - only an idiot with a trust fund would tell you otherwise. But it's confusing to know how far you should take it.

T.V. has made going to the theatre seem pointless, photography has pretty much killed painting but graffiti has remained gloriously unspoilt by progress.

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.

I'd been painting rats for three years before someone said 'that's clever it's an anagram of art' and I had to pretend I'd known that all along.

You're advised not to drink the replica Arab spring water.

Bus stops are far more interesting and useful places to have art than in museums. Graffiti has more chance of meaning something or changing stuff than anything indoors. Graffiti has been used to start revolutions, stop wars, and generally is the voice of people who aren't listened to. Graffiti is one of those 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 somebody smile while they're having a piss.

There are four basic human needs; food, sleep, sex and revenge.

The Art we look at is made by only a select few. A small group create, promote, purchase, exhibit and decide the success of Art. Only a few hundred people in the world have any real say. When you go to an Art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires

Stencils are good for two reasons; one - they're quick; two - they annoy idiots.

I tell myself I use art to promote dissent, but maybe I am just using dissent to promote my art. I plead not guilty to selling out. But I plead it from a bigger house than I used to live in.

I figure there are enough self-opinionated assholes trying to get their ugly little faces in front of you as it is. You ask a lot of kids today what they want to be when they grow up, and they say, 'I want to be famous.' You ask them, 'For what reason?' and they don't know or care. I think Andy Warhol got it wrong - in the future, so many people are going to become famous that one day everybody will end up being anonymous for 15 minutes.

Policemen and security guards wear hats with a peak that comes down low over their eyes. Apparently this is for psychological reasons. Eyebrows are very expressive and you appear a lot more authoritative if you keep them covered up. The advantage of this is that it makes a lot harder for cops to see anything more than six foot off the ground. Which is why painting rooftops and bridges is so easy.

Painting something that defies the law of the land is good. Painting something that defies the law of the land and the law of gravity at the same time is ideal.

Bus stops are far more interesting and useful places to have art than in museums.

I have no interest in ever coming out. I’m just trying to make the pictures look good; I’m not into trying to make myself look good. And besides, it’s a pretty safe bet that the reality of me would be a crushing disappointment to a couple of 15-year-old kids out there.

Imagine a city where graffiti wasn't illegal, a city where everybody could draw whatever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall - it's wet.

You can win the rat race but you're still a rat.

But there's no way round it-commercial success is a mark of failure for a graffiti artist. We're not supposed to be embraced in that way. When you look at how society rewards so many of the wrong people, it's hard not to view financial reimbursement as a badge of self-serving mediocrity.

If you have a statue in the city centre you could go past it every day on your way to school and never even notice it, right. But as soon as someone puts a traffic cone on its head, you've made your own sculpture.

All artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared to learn to draw?

I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order to protect me.

If you want to say something and have people listen then you have to wear a mask. If you want to be honest then you have to live a lie.

Should #‎ graffiti be judged on the same level as modern art? Of course not: It's way more important than that

Graffiti is only dangerous in the mind of three types of people; politicians, advertising executives and graffiti writers.

One Original Thought is worth 1000 Meaningless Quotes.

In the future, everybody will be anonymous for 15 minutes.

I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore.

Keep your coins, I want change.

A lot of mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves.

The holy grail is to spend less time making the picture than it takes people to look at it.

I don't know why people are so keen to put the details of their private life in public; they forget that invisibility is a superpower.

I like to think I have the guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no-one else believes in - like peace and justice and freedom.

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.

You're mind is working at its best when you're being paranoid. You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation at high speed with total clarity.

Not everyone will understand your journey. That's okay. You're here to live your life, not to make everyone understand.

When you go to an art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires.

If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model.

Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can't even finish my second apple pie.

The one thing you can rely on is if you get disturbed halfway through a painting and it looks a bit naff, then someone will preserve that piece, remove it and a few months later it'll be paraded round Sotheby's by people wearing white gloves.

Speak softly, but carry a big can of paint.

You live in the city and all the time there are signs telling you what to do and billboards trying to sell you something.

Art is not like other culture because its success is not made by its audience. The public fill concert halls and cinemas every day, we read novels by the millions, and buy records by the billions. 'We the people' affect the making and quality of most of our culture, but not our art.

I love the way capitalism finds a place - even for its enemies.

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.

We don’t need any more heroes; we just need someone to take out the recycling.

If you want someone to be ignored then build a life-size bronze statue of them and stick it in the middle of town. It doesn't matter how great you were, it'll always take an unfunny drunk with climbing skills to make people notice you.

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.

If you don't own a train company then you go and paint on one instead... it all comes from that thing at school when you had to have name tags in the back of something... that makes it belong to you. You can own half the city by scribbling your name over it.

Fight the fighters, not their wars.

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.

I’ve learnt from experience that a painting isn’t finished when you put down your brush – that’s when it starts. The public reaction is what supplies meaning and value. Art comes alive in the arguments you have about it.

I wanted to highlight the destruction in Gaza by posting photos on my website - but on the internet, people only look at pictures of kittens.

I originally set out to try and save the world, but now I'm not sure I like it enough.

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?

People either love me or they hate me, or they don't really care.

I just wanna make the world a better-looking place. If you don't like it, you can paint over it!

I've never really understood why people sleep. Wasting a third of your life and becoming vulnerable for almost 8 hours every night. Doesn't seem very appealing to me.

I am unable to comment on who may or may not be Banksy, but anyone described as 'good at drawing' doesn't sound like Banksy to me.

I give away thousands of paintings for free.

A wall is a very big weapon. It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with.

All I know about what people think of my gear is what a couple of my friends tell me, and one of them always wants to borrow money, so I'm not sure how reliable he is.

Nothing is black and white, and there is no purity and there is no such thing has justice.

Nobody knows what you feel inside unless you tell them.

If it doesn’t matter, get rid of it. If you can’t get rid of it, it matters.

Brandalism Any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It belongs to you. It's yours to take, rearrange and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

Anyone who believes in capital punishment should be shot

At this time of year it's easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity - the lies, the corruption, the abuse.