The 80 best phrases of Banksy

Banksy, whose real name is as unknown as most of his life, is characterized as arguably the most famous graffiti street artist.

His works of art not only cause tremendous visual impact, but also carry a very powerful social message, which invites us to take measures that help improve the world, not get carried away by consumerism and defend our individuality.

But... How does this influential graffiti figure think? In this article you will find a selection of Banksy's best phrases, commented.

• Related article: "The 60 best Art phrases"

The most memorable Banksy phrases

This is a compilation with the best Banksy phrases, which will make you have a new vision of the power of art in society.

1. Should graffiti be judged on the same level as modern art? Of course not: it is much more important than that.

Defending the art of graffiti.

2. People who wake up early are the cause of wars, death and hunger.

A direct criticism of corporations and big business.

3. They say you die twice. Once when you stop breathing and a second time, a little later, when someone says your name for the last time.

Different ways of understanding the concept of death beyond the biological.

4. The art world is the biggest joke there is. It is a rest home for the privileged, the pretentious and the weak.

There is even a degree of corruption within the art world.

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5. I need someone to protect me from all the measures I take to protect myself.

Sometimes our thoughts get so dark that they become dangerous.

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

Motivations to move forward, according to the artist.

7. I don't know why people are so willing to put the details of their private lives in public, they forget that invisibility is a superpower.

Privacy is a luxury that we sometimes overlook.

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

The wall is Banksy's favorite canvas.

9. Painting something that defies the law of the land is good.

Painting is about revolution.

10. Nobody listened to me until they knew who I was.

Sometimes people only notice you when you have some fame.

11. The people who run our cities don't understand graffiti because they think that nothing has a right to exist unless it makes a profit.

There are those who believe that art should only be exclusive and expensive pieces.

12. Nothing in the world is more common than talented unsuccessful people, get out of the house before you find something worth staying for.

A tip to put our skills into practice.

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

People who seek a good cause can become a threat to the system.

14. Drawing graffiti is the most honest way you can be an artist.

Showing his admiration for what became his way of making art.

15. Bad artists imitate, greats steal.

Apparently an act that occurs within the world of art.

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

You just need the right people to discover you.

17. As a precaution against committing acts of evil, it is our solemn duty never to do what we are told, this is the only way we can be sure.

A word of caution about not buying the advertisements.

18. If you want someone to be ignored, build a life-size bronze statue and stick it in the center of town.

Showing his dissatisfaction with the sculptures towards famous people.

19. People like to use military terms to describe what they do.

Showing a form of superiority.

20. If you are unloved, dirty and insignificant then rats become your role model.

Talking about one of his artistic inspirations.

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

Not all artists have the necessary training.

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22. Some people become police officers because they want to make the world a better place.

There will always be people who want to improve this world.

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

The art world is unfair.

24. I think it's pretty clear that cinema is the preeminent art form of our time.

Cinema as the maximum expression of art and consumerism.

25. You don't need money to do it, you don't need an education to understand it, and there is no admission fee.

All you need to do graffiti.

26. Bus stops are much more interesting and useful places to have art than museums.

This is because they are more crowded and people appreciate it better.

27. They have rearranged the world to get in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs.

On the companies taking over the advertisements.

28. Be good at cheating and you never have to be good at anything else.

A dishonest but functional way to get ahead.

29. Modern art is a disaster area.

Modern art getting out of control.

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

The duality in the recognition of Banksy.

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

There are times when they turn out to be the most hypocritical of people.

32. Sometimes I feel so bad about the state of the world that I can't even finish my second apple pie.

A critique of the false concern of large corporations towards environmental problems.

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33. A city that seemed like a party where everyone was invited, not just real estate agents and big business barons. Imagine a city like this and stop leaning against the wall, it is wet.

Talking about the impact of graffiti on the city.

34. I learned from experience that a painting is not finished when you release the brush, it is when it begins.

Paintings have a life of their own.

35. At this time of year it is easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity: the lies, the corruption or the abuse.

A clear accusation of the abusive role of religions.

36. There is no gallery exhibition, no book or film. Meaningless. Which, hopefully, means something.

For Banksy, street art has a deep meaning.

37. The reaction of the public is what provides meaning and value. Art comes to life in the arguments you have about it.

What really gives art value is the impression it leaves on people.

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

The impact of advertising on everyday life.

39. Brandalism Any advertisement in a public space that does not give you the option to see it or is not yours.

A critique of the abuse of branding by large companies.

40. But there is no getting around it, commercial success is a mark of failure for a graffiti artist.

For artists to be received they need to be commercial.

41. It is yours to take, rearrange and reuse. Asking permission is like asking you to keep a stone that someone has just thrown at your head.

The way companies play with people's tastes.

42. We can do nothing to change the world until capitalism collapses. Meanwhile, we should all go shopping to comfort ourselves.

Capitalism as the main source of environmental and economic problems.

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

The reality of galleries according to Banksy.

44. I know that street art can increasingly feel like the marketing wing of an art career, so I wanted to make some art without the price tag.

Your goal behind your graffiti art.

45. The art we look at is made by only a select few. A small group creates, promotes, buys, exhibits and decides the success of art.

The art world is selective according to how it is marketed.

46. What I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mostly with the slowness and obsession of becoming our artists.

By diverting talent to destroy originality.

47. He speaks quietly, but carries a large can of paint.

A form of expression in graffiti.

48. When it's time to leave, just walk away quietly and don't make a fuss.

You don't need to make a fuss to make a mark.

49. Many people never use their initiative because no one told them to.

People restrict themselves out of fear.

50. Imagine a city where graffiti was not illegal, a city where everyone could draw whatever they wanted.

A city surrounded by pure art.

51. People say that graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish. But that's only if it's done correctly.

It all depends on doing it in an artistic way.

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

Society has become a game of strategy.

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

You don't need to follow what the others say.

54. The advantage of this is that it makes it much more difficult for officers to see anything more than six feet above the ground. That is why it is so easy to paint roofs and bridges.

An advantage of street art.

55. If Michelangelo or Leonardo Da Vinci were alive today, they would be making Avatar, not painting a chapel.

Talking about the enormous role of cinema in art.

56. If you are unsuccessful at first, call for an air strike.

There are things that advertisements have through violence.

57. You don't owe the companies anything. You especially don't owe them any courtesy.

It is the companies who owe us solutions to the problems they cause.

58. Anyone who believes in capital punishment should be shot.

A critique of this belief.

59. Some people represent authority without having any authority of their own.

Many are in high places to take advantage of its benefits.

60. We call it bombing when we go out to paint, when, of course, it is more like entertaining the troops in a neutral zone, during a time of peace in a country without an army.

The meaning behind the art blitz.

61. I wouldn't want to be remembered as the guy who contaminated a perfectly legitimate form of protest art with money and celebrities.

Perhaps this is why Banksy keeps her identity private.

62. Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

One of the objectives that art should have.

63. From what I can tell, the only thing worth looking at in most art museums are all the female students on field trips with the art departments.

What is "worth" more within museums. Because of the empty art they have.

64. Live like a villain, die like a hero.

An interesting lifestyle.

65. Graffiti has always been a temporary art form. You make your mark and then you rub it off.

Graffiti is not permanent. That is why it has a greater impact.

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

Where you can leave crude and controversial messages.

67. A recent survey of North American men found that 42% were overweight, 34% were critically obese, and 8% were survey eaters.

On the alarming numbers of overweight in the United States.

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68. The people who really disfigure our neighborhoods are the companies that scribble slogans giants on buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff.

The graffiti that should be banned.

69. The biggest crimes in the world are not committed by people who break the rules. They are people who follow orders to drop bombs and massacre villages.

Unfortunately politicians have more personal interests than for the good of the people.

70. People seem to think that if they dress like a revolutionary, they don't really have to behave like one.

It is the actions and changes that really matter.

71. There are no exceptions to the rule that everyone thinks they are an exception to the rules.

The problem is not being unique, but believing that you are above the rest.

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

Capitalism is present in all parts of the world.

73. Many mothers would do anything for their children, less let them be themselves.

Some parents seek to control their children to "protect" them.

74. If you have a statue in the city center, you can pass it every day on the way to school and not even notice it, right? But as soon as someone puts a traffic cone on their head, you've made your own sculpture.

Art is subjective.

75. Modern art is a shame: never have so many people used so many things and taken so long to say so little.

Speaking of his contempt for modern art.

76. An original thought is worth 1000 nonsensical quotes.

It is always preferable to be original in front of everything.

77. Your mind is working hard when you are being paranoid. You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation. At high speed with total clarity.

Something beneficial if you don't let it control you.

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

The formula for success according to Banksy.

79. When you look at how society rewards so many wrong people, it's hard not to see financial repayment as a hallmark of selfish mediocrity.

Money moves the world, sometimes in the wrong way.

80. I like to think that I have the guts to stand up anonymously in a Western democracy and ask for things that no one else believes in, like peace, justice, and freedom.

A noble fight against everything.