Quotes from Marina Abramovic

From the moment you are born, you could die. I think as an artist it is important to meditate on that.

I always sent my mother all these huge books I made. When my mother died, I was cleaning her cupboard, and these big books were only 20 pages long.

People have so much pain inside them that they're not even aware of.

For me, performance is a holy ground. When I perform, I really step into a different state of consciousness.

First of all, to do performance art, you really have to give 100 percent. I only know that I have to give 100 percent and then what happens, happens.

Every party is the same, too many people, too little food, and you have to wait around. I'm extremely bored with parties.

I had a very difficult relationship with my mother. She used to wake me up in the middle of the night if I wasn't sleeping straight and was messing up the sheets. Now when I stay in hotels I sleep so straight they don't even think I've used the bed.

When I taught art, I was always asked, 'How do you know you're an artist? What makes you an artist?' And to me, it's like breathing. You don't question if you breathe; you have to breathe. So if you wake up in the morning, and you have to realize an idea, and there's another idea, and another, maybe you are really an artist.

My grandmother, when she looked at American movies, she said, 'They're all the same. In the first scene somebody shoots somebody and then everybody makes phone calls.'

I want to dominate the man's world.

A great artist has to be ready to fail.

Galás is a great artist with a very powerful voice.