Jenny Holzer quotes

At times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Mindless

You are a victim of the rules you live by.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Victim #Live By

All things are delicately interconnected.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art

It's better to be a good person than a famous person.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #Good Person #Being A Good Person

Slipping into madness is good for the sake of comparison
-- Jenny Holzer

#Sake #Slipping #Madness

Lack of charisma can be fatal.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Charisma

Being happy is more important than anything else.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Important

Anger or hate can be a useful motivating force
-- Jenny Holzer

#Hate #Force

Going with the flow is soothing but risky.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Going With The Flow #Flow #Soothing

I wanted to be an abstract painter, but I was rotten at it.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Rotten #Abstract #Painter

I seldom have my stuff up unless I'm testing it. If I'm worrying about a painting, I put it up and see if I detest it quickly or slowly. Otherwise I have things by other artists.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Artist #Worry #Stuff

It is embarrassing to be caught and killed for stupid reasons
-- Jenny Holzer

#Stupid #Reason #Embarrassing

On the worst days, I don't feel like an artist.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Artist #Worst #Worst Day

I really like doing the laundry, because I succeed at it. But I loathe putting it away. It is already clean.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Succeed #Laundry

There's a fine line between information and propaganda.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Lines #Information #Propaganda

Use what is dominant in a culture to change it quickly.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Change #Culture #Use

Alienation produces eccentrics or revolutionaries.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Outsiders #Revolutionary #Produce

Expressing anger is necessary.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Expressing Anger

Any surplus is immoral.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Surplus #Immoral

Ensure that your life stays in flux.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #Flux

The epiphany for me was that I wasnt a writer, and I had to do something with these texts. I put them in the streets as posters.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Epiphany #Posters #Streets

A name means a lot just by itself.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #Mean #Names

Disgust is the appropriate response to most situations
-- Jenny Holzer

#Situation #Disgusting #Response

Killing is unavoidable but is nothing to be proud of
-- Jenny Holzer

#Proud #Killing #Be Proud

Well, I think in trying to make life seem real enough that one is moved to do something about the more atrocious things. By going really far afield into a completely fake world, maybe there's a chance to make things resonant somehow - or in this case, truly terrifying. To make it as bad as the real stuff that's happening.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Real #Thinking #Fake

Deviants are sacrificed to increase group solidarity
-- Jenny Holzer

#Groups #Increase #Solidarity

Hands on your breast can keep your heart beating.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Heart #Hands #Breasts

Everyone's work is equally important.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #Important

Exceptional people deserve special concessions.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #People #Special

It is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Self #Way #Interest

The most profound things are inexpressible.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Profound

My arrogance knows no bounds and I will make no peace today, and you should be so lucky to find a woman like me.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Arrogance #Lucky #Today

One of the glories and terrors of working in public is that you do see if your output means anything to anyone.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Mean #Glory #Output

TRYING TO BE POPULAR IN HIGH SCHOOL IS LIKE TRYING TO BE MAYOR OF A CITY THAT WON'T EXIST IN FOUR YEARS.
-- Jenny Holzer

#School #Years #Cities

Abuse of power comes as no surprise
-- Jenny Holzer

#Abuse #Surprise #Abuse Of Power

I get up about four times a night and go back to sleep, or not. Then I swill tea around 8 a.m. I answer e-mail, while I stall thinking about whatever scares me.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Sleep #Thinking #Night

Romantic love was invented to manipulate women
-- Jenny Holzer

#Romantic Love #Manipulate

Turn soft and lovely anytime you have the chance.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Lovely #Chance #Turns

Expiring for love is beautiful but stupid.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Beautiful #Stupid #Love Is

A lot of professionals are crackpots.
-- Jenny Holzer

Being alone with yourself is increasingly unpopular.
-- Jenny Holzer

The desperate things seem to require attention, the lovely things seem to elicit celebration. If I had to choose, I would go to the awful in the hope that doing something could yield a happier result.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Yield #Lovely #Attention

How do you resign yourself to something that will never be? You stop wanting just that thing. You go numb. Or you kill the agent of desire.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Desire #Agents #Numb

I am not free because I can be exploded anytime.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Because I Can

BY YOUR RESPONSE TO DANGER IT IS EASY TO TELL HOW YOU HAVE LIVED AND WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO YOU. YOU SHOW WHETHER YOU WANT TO STAY ALIVE, WHETHER YOU THINK YOU DESERVE TO, AND WHETHER YOU BELIEVE IT'S ANY GOOD TO ACT.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Believe #Thinking #Alive

Knowing yourself lets you understand others.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Knowing #Know Yourself

Savor kindness because cruelty is always possible later.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Kindness #Cruelty

That's the test of street art – to see if anybody stopped. People would cross out ones they didn't like and would star others. I liked that people would engage with them.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #Stars #People

I wanted to support things that are helpful to people and maybe bash what I think is dangerous. So I switched from being everybody to being myself.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Thinking #People #Support

Protect me from what I want.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Want #Protect

A sense of duty imprisons you.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Ambition #Duty

SPIT ALL OVER SOMEONE WITH A MOUTHFUL OF MILK IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR PERSONALITY FAST.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Personality #Want #Milk

When my daughter was young, she thought all electronic signs were mine.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Daughter #Mother #My Daughter

Turn soft and lovely any time you have a chance
-- Jenny Holzer

#Lovely #Chance #Turns

A positive attitude means all the difference in the world.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Attitude #Mean #Differences

A sense of timing is the mark of a genius.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Genius #Timing #Mark

Stupid people shouldn’t breed.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Stupid #Stupid People #People

At times your unconsciousness is truer than your conscious mind
-- Jenny Holzer

#Mind #Conscious #Conscious Mind

What urge will save us now that sex won't?
-- Jenny Holzer

#Sex

It can be kind of gruesome at times, making things alone.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Be Kind #Kind

I moved to New York in the 1970s and started writing when I was at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.
-- Jenny Holzer

#New York #Writing #Independent

Drama often obscures the real issues
-- Jenny Holzer

#Real #Drama #Issues

A little knowledge can go a long way.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #Long #Littles

If you have many desires your life will be interesting.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #Interesting #Desire

Remember you always have freedom of choice.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #Choices #Remember

It's necessary to start most work alone. But I'm tickled to death when I can pull somebody in or join someone, whether it's borrowing poetry or traveling with an associate.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Borrowing

If you are an artist and you are honest, you are never good enough.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Artist #Honest #Never Good Enough

Enjoy yourself because you can't change anything anyway
-- Jenny Holzer

#Enjoy #Enjoy Yourself

It's fun wandering around other people's minds.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Fun #People #Mind

Sloppy thinking gets worse over time.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Thinking

Fear is the most elegant weapon, your hands are never messy
-- Jenny Holzer

#Hands #Weapons #Messy

THERE IS A PERIOD WHEN IT IS CLEAR THAT YOU HAVE GONE WRONG BUT YOU CONTINUE. SOMETIMES THERE IS A LUXURIOUS AMOUNT OF TIME BEFORE ANYTHING BAD HAPPENS.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Gone #Sometimes #Periods

I'd been doing projects outdoors for the public. I made pigeons eat geometry by putting bread out in rhomboids and triangles. I don't know if this activity made sense, but the work was available.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Triangles #Pigeons #Bread

I think of a piece, and then people who are competent fabricate it. But lately I've started finger painting, which probably should be a joke but isn't!
-- Jenny Holzer

#Thinking #People #Pieces

I used language because I wanted to offer content that people - not necessarily art people - could understand.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #People #Language

Faithfulness is a social not a biological law.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Law #Faithfulness #Social

Raise boys and girls the same way.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Girl #Boys #Way

I'm always trying to bring unusual content to a different audience - a non-art-world audience.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Art #Trying #Different

Boredom makes you do crazy things
-- Jenny Holzer

#Crazy #Boredom

Someone else's body is a place for your mind to go.
-- Jenny Holzer

#Mind #Body