"It's not a question of courage, it's a question of your development. Everything interesting begins with conflict."
"A punk is someone who knows how to ask the world uncomfortable questions and does everything possible to make sure the world can't cop out of answering those questions. A punk is a person who lives and breathes astonishment. Astonishing other people and astonishing yourself - that's what art is for us, and without art, life can't exist. It would be too boring."
"A punk is always ready to rethink the idea of what is normal, and again, first and foremost, rethink their own ideas. And if you need to use institutions to make sure the world doesn't cop out, we're going to use them."
"We use the principle of bad art, bad rhyme and bad music. The idea was as simple as a tank: Everyone has to have an access to music and we talk about it constantly. Anyone can be Pussy Riot."
"Punk culture has taught us that to be moderate and restrained is not always the correct choice. When your intuition is telling you that the time has come to leave behind your moderation, do it!"
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Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot
"Nothing will change if we prefer to sit around and complain that politics is boring and because it is boring, we don't want to take part in it. It's up to us to reshape what politics is. Take it back. Bring it back to the streets, clubs, bars, parks. Our party isn't over."
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Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot
"Art is a realm that helps us fight forces which try to mechanize people, forces which see humans as things that need user instructions and should be placed on the shelf of a store in a shopping mall."
"The most radical act of rebellion today is to relearn how to dream and to fight for that dream."
"What pop culture could teach you, as a political activist, is how to be understood by people outside of your community."
"Maybe some people live according to a pre-prepared plan in the form of school, university, and a career somewhere. That's just not me."
"The point is it's better to be brave and honest than just a function of this system, which is going to wear itself down in the end. It's important to be consistent."
"Don't quit what you've started, don't give up, don't walk away. It's important that those aren't just words."
"At every stage, you have to do everything you can. Everything you feel."
"Their message is: ideas matter. They are conceptual artists in the noblest sense of the word: artists who embody an Idea. This is why they wear balaclavas: masks of deindividualization, of liberating anonymity. The message of their balaclavas is that it doesn't matter which of them are arrested - they're not individuals, they're an Idea. And this is why they are such a threat: it is easy to imprison individuals, but try to imprison an Idea!"
"Political art is a way to change the system because it is a way to ask uncomfortable questions and only then can we go forward."