Ai Weiwei vs. David Cay Johnston
Read 20 entries attributed to Ai Weiwei alongside 20 attributed to David Cay Johnston. Compare the wording and topic labels.
This page places 20 entries attributed to Ai Weiwei alongside 20 attributed to David Cay Johnston. Each selection is ordered by stored importance score. These are selections from QuoteLineage, not complete accounts of either author's work.
Topic labels present in both displayed selections: truth, philosophy, art, life, justice. Shared labels do not by themselves demonstrate agreement, disagreement, or influence between the authors.
Attributed to Ai Weiwei, entry #238267: "I often ask myself if I am afraid of being detained again. I love freedom as much as anybody else, maybe more than most. But it is a tragedy to live your life in fear. It is worse…"
Attributed to David Cay Johnston, entry #217569: "f Reaganism worked, if Bush's tax cuts worked, America today would be swimming in jobs. That's what we were promised. It would lead to all this investment and all these jobs. Inst…"
Side-by-Side Comparison
Ai Weiwei
1957
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly critical of the Chinese government and its stance on democracy and human rights.
"I often ask myself if I am afraid of being detained again. I love freedom as much as anybody else, maybe more than most. But it is a tragedy to live your lif…"
#freedom"Only with the Internet can a peasant I have never met hear my voice and I can learn what’s on his mind. A fairy tale has come true."
#truth"The government may be made up of clever, sensible people. But if they do not believe in basic human values, the more clever or shrewd they are the greater th…"
#Human Nature"Beijing is two cities. One is of power and of money. People don’t care who their neighbors are; they don’t trust you. The other city is one of desperation. I…"
#money"The 2008 Olympics has created an illusion of China to the public and to the outside world. It is so fantastic, so unreal, that the entire meaning of the game…"
#philosophy"The Internet is uncontrollable. And if the Internet is uncontrollable, freedom will win. It’s as simple as that."
#freedom"Contemporary art and the Party are an impossible situation. It’s like oil and water—they can never mix."
#art"Because of the economic crisis, China and the United States are bound together. This is a totally new phenomenon, and nobody will fight for ideology anymore.…"
#friendship"Anyone who cares about truth should avoid not politics, but Olympic lies."
#truth"People have said, if you leave, you may never come back. Or they may not even let you leave. So this is always a cost you may have to pay. But I don’t want t…"
#art"To me, to be political means you associate your work with a larger number of people’s living conditions, and that includes both mental and physical condition…"
#life"The art always wins. Anything can happen to me, but the art will stay."
#art"I lost all connection with the outside world and was immersed in a world of darkness. I was scared that my existence would fade silently. No one knew where I…"
#philosophy"When I returned to China , I didn’t have a U.S. passport, a wife, or a university degree. From the Chinese point of view, I was a total failure."
#family"Twitter is the people’s tool, the tool of the ordinary people, people who have no other resources."
#Human Nature"Police in China can do whatever they want; after 81 days in arbitrary detention you clearly realise that they don’t have to obey their own laws."
#justice"Tradition is only a readymade. It’s for us to make a new gesture—to use it as a reference, more as a starting point than conclusion. Of course, there are ver…"
#art"It’s hard to recover. You become not so innocent. You become, in a way, more sophisticated, which I think you shouldn’t. We should all have more simple happi…"
#happiness"Chairman Mao was the first in the world to use Twitter. All his quotations are within 140 words."
#humor"I think my stance and my way of life is my most important art."
#lifeDavid Cay Johnston
1948
David Cay Boyle Johnston is an American investigative journalist and author, a specialist in economics and tax issues, and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting.
"f Reaganism worked, if Bush's tax cuts worked, America today would be swimming in jobs. That's what we were promised. It would lead to all this investment an…"
#time"Mr. Reagan came along and said, "Are you better off? ...Government is the problem," and persuaded people who were faced with problems... We had two oil shock…"
#politics"The fundamental affect that's taking place... is that government has changed from focusing on nurturing and developing a stable middle class, to these other …"
#politics"People don't know... They... are so fascinated by what's going on in the White House, they're not paying attention to what matters. ...he reason I hope every…"
#books"All of the Founders of this country... were well steeped in the history of the ancient world. ...hey were very concerned about the rabble... about people bei…"
#history"he Internal Revenue Service in 2003 released its first public analysis of tax returns filed by the 400 highest income Americans... from 1992 to 2000. ...the …"
#society"That's what I'm worried about... the tyrant next time."
#time"he Trump presidency is unlike anything that came before, a presidency built on open public contempt for Constitutional principles."
#ethics"The hiring of Manafort and others, specifically, a Russian-born real estate mogul with mob ties whose 2015 emails indicate that he hoped to help secure both …"
#life"Our democracy is in very deep trouble. ...Donald Trump is not the disease. He is the symptom."
#politics"Democrats and Republicans alike have turned the tax system into a vehicle not just to finance government but to finance social change. For the last three dec…"
#politics"As taxpayers we gave one of Warren Buffet's companies, in 2006, an interest-free loan of $665 million dollars, and he only has to pay half of it back 28 year…"
#justice"ound bytes of politicians in both parties bear as much connection to the reality of the tax system as my... grandson's belief in Santa."
#truth"Trump started a faux university named for himself that taught nothing of value and collapsed in scandal."
#art"Conservatism... means we take the things that we know work and we keep... and maintain them. ...f you want to try something new... you're careful... you're c…"
#knowledge"This book tells you what has either not been in the news or been in it glancingly, about what they're doing to our government; and that effects your safety, …"
#politics"Journalism never did a great job of covering government, but 40% of journalism jobs in this country have disappeared since 2000. ...s a result of that the ag…"
#books"Congress lets business owners, investors and landlords play by one set of rules, which are filed with opportunities to hide income, fabricate deductions and …"
#politics"Japan has mandatory unions. ...It's in their Constitution, and who wrote their Constitution? ...The staff of... General Douglas MacArthur, because he knew th…"
#art"Where are the ministers? ... ...said ..."Donald denies it." Well, Eliot Spitzer denied it. ...Bill Clinton denied it. ... goes... "Donald is a changed man fr…"
#philosophy