Banksy Quotes, Sayings
These famous Banksy quotes give a glimpse of the famous street artist’s mind and world view.
Best Banksy quotes
The anonymous street artist known as Banksy has a global following and is credited with many of the best-known works of graffiti and thought-provoking visuals ever created.
But his powerful messages extend beyond the walls he stencils. His quotes and sayings offer a window into the mind behind the mask.
So let’s take a look at some of Banksy’s most famous quotes, exploring his social commentary and themes that resonate throughout his career.
Banksy quotes about art
1. The bad artists imitate, the great artists steal.
– Banksy
2. I want to live in a world created by art, not just decorated with it.
– Banksy
3. The art world is the biggest joke going. It’s a rest home for the overprivileged, the pretentious, and the weak.
– Banksy
4. All artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared to learn to draw?
– Banksy
5. When you go to an art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires.
– Banksy
6. 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.
– Banksy
7. 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.
– Banksy
About graffiti
8. Graffiti is not the lowest form of art.
– Banksy
9. Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing.
– Banksy
10. People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish… but that’s only if it’s done properly.
– Banksy
11. Should graffiti be judged on the same level as modern art? Of course not: It’s way more important than that.
– Banksy
12. 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 p—.
– Banksy
13. 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?
– Banksy
About his art
14. Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.
– Banksy
15. The holy grail is to spend less time making the picture than it takes people to look at it.
– Banksy
16. It doesn’t take much to be a successful artist — all you need to do is dedicate your entire life to it.
– Banksy
17. Your 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.
– Banksy
18. 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.
– Banksy
About street art
19. Bus stops are far more interesting and useful places to have art than in museums.
– Banksy
20. I just want to make the world a better looking place. If you don’t like it, you can paint over it!
– Banksy
21. Despite having to creep about at night and lie to your mum it’s actually the most honest artform available.
– Banksy
Famous Banksy quotes and sayings
1. If it doesn’t matter, get rid of it. If you can’t get rid of it, it matters.
– Banksy
2. 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.
– Banksy
3. 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.
– Banksy
4. 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.
– Banksy
About rats
5. You can win the rat race but you’re still a rat.
– Banksy
6. If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model.
– Banksy
7. 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.
– Banksy
About advertising and capitalism
8. The people who run our cities don’t understand graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit.
– Banksy
9. We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.
– Banksy
10. 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.
– Banksy
11. 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.
– Banksy
About politics
12. People who enjoy waving flags don’t deserve to have one.
– Banksy
13. People seem to think if they dress like a revolutionary they don’t actually have to behave like one.
– Banksy
Banksy quotes about law and justice
1. Nothing is black and white, and there is no purity and there is no such thing as justice.
– Banksy
2. 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.
– Banksy
3. I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order to protect me.
– Banksy
4. My main problem with cops is that they do what they’re told. They say ‘Sorry mate, I’m just doing my job’ all the f-ing time.
– Banksy
5. It’s a very frustrated feeling you get when the only people with good photos of you work are the police department.
– Banksy
Funny Banksy quotes
1. Nobody ever listened to me until they didn’t know who I was.
– Banksy
2. This revolution is for display purposes only.
– Banksy
3. People either love me or they hate me, or they don’t really care.
– Banksy
4. I originally set out to try and save the world, but now I’m not sure I like it enough.
– Banksy
5. Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can’t even finish my second apple pie.
– Banksy
6. A recent survey or North American males found 42% were overweight, 34% were critically obese and 8% ate the survey.
– Banksy
7. 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 fifteen minutes.
– Banksy
Banksy world view quotes
1. 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.
– Banksy
2. Some people represent authority without ever possessing any of their own.
– Banksy
3. Nobody knows what you feel inside unless you tell them.
– Banksy
4. 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.
– Banksy
5. 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.
– Banksy
6. Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent, leave the house before you find something worth staying in for.
– Banksy
Cynical quotes
7. Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else.
– Banksy
8. A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to.
– Banksy
9. At this time of year it’s easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity – the lies, the corruption, the abuse.
– Banksy
10. A lot of mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves.
– Banksy
11. There are no exceptions to the rule that everyone thinks they’re an exception to the rules.
– Banksy
Inspirational sayings
12. There’s nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place.
– Banksy
13. Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s okay. You’re here to live your life, not to make everyone understand.
– Banksy
Banksy principles to live by
1. Speak softly, but carry a big can of paint.
– Banksy
2. Remember – it’s always easier to get forgiveness than permission.
– Banksy
3. Sometimes the right thing to do… is the wrong thing.
– Banksy
4. If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.
– Banksy
5. One original thought is worth 1000 meaningless quotes.
– Banksy
6. Be positive, patient and persistent.
– Banksy
7. You don’t need planning permission to build castles in the sky.
– Banksy
8. When the time comes to leave, just walk away quietly and don’t make any fuss.
– Banksy
Banksy wall and piece quotes
- What we do in life echoes in eternity.
- I’m out of bed and dressed – what more do you want?
- There is always hope.
- From this moment despair ends and tactics begin.
- One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings. – Diogenes
- Be a nice human.
- We’re all in the same boat.
- I remember when all this was trees.
- Do nothing. You’ll live longer.
- Keep your coins. I want change.
- Don’t forget to eat your lunch and make some trouble.
- This’ll look nice when it’s framed.
- Laugh now, but one day we’ll be in charge.
- Keep it real.
- If graffiti changed anything – it would be illegal.
- I fought the law and I won.
- Another world is possible. Put paint everywhere!
- There is light at the end of the tunnel.
- Don’t think.
- Copyright is for losers©™.
A final thought from Banksy
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.
Banksy, “Wall and Piece”
Thanks for reading this list of famous Banksy quotes and sayings. Be sure to check out these inspirational quote lists:
By Greg Johnson | Published 3/5/2024
