Banksy
An anonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humor with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique.
Quotes by Banksy
Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.
The bad artists imitate, the great artists steal.
A wall is a very big weapon. It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with.
People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish... but that's only if it's done properly.
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.
If you want to say something and have people listen then you have to wear a mask. If you want to be truthful then you have to wear a mask.
Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.
There's no way round it – you have to get your hands dirty.
The world we live in is a dangerous and unpleasant place. We should be doing everything we can to make it better, not worse.
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 crying.
I mean, they say you should never meet your heroes, but in this case, I made an exception.
A lot of people don't like graffiti, but I think it's beautiful. It's a way of expressing yourself, and it's a way of making a statement.
The art world is the biggest joke. It's a bunch of rich people trying to outdo each other.
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.
Commercials are the most powerful art form known to man.
The people who run our cities don't understand graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit.
You don't need a degree to be an artist. You just need to be an artist.
The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.
I'm not trying to sell anything. I'm just trying to make people think.
If you have a problem with the way the world is, you can either do nothing or you can do something. And I choose to do something.