Martin Firrell

"All men are dangerous."

"Security is no replacement for liberty."

"If obedience invariably leads to cruelty, disobedience is our moral duty."

"I want to live in a city where immigration is seen as a new source of strength."

"I want to live in a city where the people who make the rules have to live by them."

"I want to live in a city where dissent is welcomed as much as it's disliked."

"I want to live in a city where half the people in charge are women."

"The one irreducible truth about humanity is diversity."

"One of the capital's most influential public artists."

"I like words on public buildings and Firrell is a master of gauging their power."

"Martin Firrell is my favourite public artist."

"How rare that an artist should make something which forces us to think, and encourages us to stop and think, to question why we behave the way we do."

"What a good thing (Firrell) is for this world of ours."

"Firrell has reinvented poetry for the 21st Century."

"With his geisha-white complexion and vivid blue eyes, he is a touch of exotica even in the colourful world of Soho."

"Artists have different materials they work with, and for Martin it’s words."

"Yes he’s a provocateur if you like, but the underlying message is very rarely ‘life’s rubbish and you’re all a bunch of sharks’. And I think that is a reflection of Martin’s belief in the better side of people."

"He’s seeking to move beyond simple messages to something which provokes in the viewer a new sense of themselves and their place in the world."

"Many will support Firrell’s aims… the combined effect of words, visuals and soundtrack is powerful… Firrell, an artist based in the city, is renowned for text pieces like this."

"It is so deep, it’s so impressive, it goes straight to your heart."

"If we’re being told to do stupid or cruel things, then it is morally correct to disobey."

"I realized that the only possible response was to go to my wonderful local café, Maison Bertaux, check everyone was well, eat a little cake and then make art. To me, making art, and in particular public art, is always an assertion of our humanity and our strength."

"Quentin Crisp said it to me; now I say it to you: say yes to everything."

"Art’s true purpose is to be human as opposed to some rarefied activity set away from real life. I think art should help you to navigate the real challenges of being a human being."

"I do see myself as aiming to foment some kind of revolution."

"If the great Western experiment fails and we end up living in totalitarian war-on-terrorism states, one day someone’s going to say, 'Well democracy doesn’t work because they had to give it up’."

"When we speak plainly of death we stand equal to it."

"My heart pumping 70 times a minute every minute my whole life. What a task! To reach any age in those terms sounds miraculous!"

"To embrace the fullness of possible experience without fear strikes me as heroic, impossibly heroic."

"There is nothing beautiful or noble about death or fear."

"War is always a failure. It means we’ve failed in diplomacy and we’ve failed in talking to one another."

"There are many ways to be strong."

"The other side of reverence is loathing."

"Women are much more honourable than men."

"The immense beauty, the vast almost unbearable beauty of justice."

"The bodily strength, the fierceness and beauty of young women."

"There’s not a lesbian hero that everybody can relate to."

"Let’s speak of justice as present in the world, as independent and self-perpetuating."

"Look to the day when we can say goodbye to all out heroes because their work is done. Justice is alive, independent, unassailable."

"Protest is liberty's ally."

"Liberty dies where there is agreement without thought or argument."

"The purpose of my life is to try out the ideas I have for it."

"Feeling is its own law and truth."

"Everything is resurrected in memory."

"Everything turns only to memory."

"Rain has always been connected in my mind with kindness."

"You said in that moment on the beach you were entirely happy."

"There's an obligation to try every route to happiness."

"Every river can be crossed."

"A grave and sincere apology to the people of Iraq."