Artists From England

"In our land the educated poor, who at the most can only cycle or take short railway journeys into the country from an adjoining town, are fast losing their rightful heritage — the beauty of the country-side, which is rapidly disappearing with very little benefit to anyone. Apparently nobody but a few timid adherents of the Archeological Society cares a straw."

"This much i can speak of with certainty and emphasis : that from the British frontier hear Fort George to the limit of my journeys into the Mbuba country of the Congo Free State, up and down the Semliki, the natives appear to be prosperous and happy... The extent to which they were building their villages and cultivating their plantations within the precincts of Fort Mbeni showed that they had no fear of the Belgians."

"Iceland, though it lies so far to the north that it is partly within the Arctic Circle, is, like Norway, Scotland, and Ireland, affected by the Gulf Stream, so that considerable portions of it are quite habitable."

"It is the first rational exposition of the relations of mankind to the mystery which shrouds the how and wherefore of man's existence, the first honest protest against our long, long martyrdom."

"To devise these living pictures with simple well-known flowers seems to me to be the best thing to do in gardening."

"The love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies, but grows to the enduring happiness that the love of gardening gives."

"I am strongly of the opinion that possession of plants, however good, does not make a garden; it only makes a collection."

"The duty we owe to our gardens is to so use the plants that they shall form beautiful pictures; and that, while delighting our eyes."

"Paint upon a palette, delighting our eyes with soul-satisfying pictures, a treasure of well set jewels a sympathy with growing things, fashioned into a dream of beauty, a place of perfect rest and refreshment of mind and body. This sense of beauty is a gift of God."

"My wife was born in Hemingford Grey in Huntingdon and we knew and loved its river, the Great Ouse. We sat by it, we meditated by it, we walked its banks, we explored it by canoe, skiff and pont. I knew its mills, its sluices, its locks, its churches, its meadows and, further afield, its fens. It became part of my life."

"The bottom line is that the human species has to realize the human body really is just a cheap suitcase."

"... used to be the fight for the means of production, now it's the fight for the means of perception ... or the meme's of perception ... they who control the meme's of perception design each universe I would say"

"The whole planet is the museum!"

"After thee accumulation of too much history we have lost our innocence, we cannot easily believe in any explanations. We describe rather than feel, we touch rather than explore, we lust rather than adore."

"An exact science is one that admits loss."

"There is no comparison between him and me; he developed a whole new way of making art and he's clearly in a league of his own. It would be like making comparisons with Warhol."

"When it comes to words I have a uniqueness that I find almost impossible in art – and it's my words that actually make my art quite unique."

"When I think about sex it makes me realise how alone I feel."

"I want to be with my friends. I'm drunk. I want to phone my mum. She's going to be embarrassed by this conversation. I don't care. I don't give a fuck about it."

"Your paintings are stuck, you are stuck! Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!"

"Anthony Napolitan: "I think I have a thing for female singers; I like the way they sound. MIA is a very unique one at that. [Paper Planes] is an all-time favorite for me. I just like it!""

"Ryan McGinley: "We had to basically rig a truss for this swing; it was a major production to make sure it was safe. I tried it out. M.I.A. might have gotten there and said, 'I'm not doing this; this is too crazy.' But she got on and just started swinging like it was something normal. "I remember her saying, 'If I'm going to go out, this is an awesome way to go.'""

"Kesh: "I appreciate M.I.A.. A real artist.""

"Karl Lagerfeld: "Nowadays people give the middle finger quite quickly - it's not the best behaviour. Everybody does that, what's new about that? It's just become a bad habit. People in magazines are 50% bimbo and 50% pregnant women" February 7, 2012 [on M.I.A. flipping the middle finger to the camera during the 2012 Superbowl half-time show]"

"Luella Bartley: "She had an unabashed in-your-face craziness that I loved, admired, and identified with.""

"Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips: "The new M.I.A. I like the "Born Free" single with the Suicide sample. I didn't like the video that much. But I like her. I think she's a badass. She's a freak. She's cool. She's intense. I think she gets a bit too bitchy sometimes, but I don't care." - on what he was listening to, July 2010, Rolling Stone"

"Vampire Weekend:"

"Carri "Cassetteplaya" Mundane:"

"Timbaland: "We wanna go to the world. The world is 'Big Pimpin'.' 'Big Pimpin' ' is an international hit, so we wanna do 10 of those. Meaning, some of the songs gonna sound like M.I.A. would rap on some of the beats. You gonna be like, 'Whoa!'""

"Thom Yorke: "I really try to limit [listening to other people's music while working on new songs], but M.I.A.'s first record really seeped in. M.I.A. takes this complete block and chop repeat, chop repeat, chop, not finished [method]. Which really reminds me of that thing of just picking up a guitar and the first three chords you write and being like, yep, that's good. Stop. End. Not sort of sitting there fifteen hours later agonizing over the hi-hat sound. That seems to be what happens with programming and electronica a lot of the time. You can feel the pain going on.""

"Trent Reznor: "The only thing that I play in my car right now is Arular by a girl named M.I.A., the most innovative artist in years." (2005) [Reznor subsequently wanted to collaborate with M.I.A. in 2005, and added her songs "Pull Up The People", "Hombre" and "Galang" to the setlist of Pre-Show Music played at Nine Inch Nails Lights in the Sky concert tour (2008 - 2009). 2005,"

"Donatella Versace: "Her music and style seemed so fresh and innovative. She is a total artist." [for Designer's Musician Muses (2011)"

"Solange Knowles: "I went to a M.I.A. show and I thought the best moment of her show, is she literally invited anyone who wanted to onstage, just the energy of, you know, being with the crowd, and its people who love your music, it feels really good." September 2008, Jimmy Kimmel Show"

"Sleigh Bells:"

"Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree:"

"Richard X: "It's very much who tickles my fancy," he says, although he's been lucky to meet a couple of "kindred spirits" - including Kelis and M.I.A""

"Peaches: "I first met M.I.A. as Maya in America way back in 2000 [laughs]. And she was a great videographer and she was also making her own films and her own clothes. I think that you can transfer your creativities to all different areas. She was a videographer, she made me clothes, she has a creative mind, and a passion and a drive.""

"Santigold:"

"Teddy Geiger: "That's that MIA thing. She has the bombs, they'll make you blow. Simple as that!""

"Eric Daman and Meredith Markworth-Pollack: "Vanessa is a breath of fresh air. She’s the Lower East Side, Raising Victor Vargas home-girl. One night we saw M.I.A. in concert wearing a sequin sailor suit and were like “Omigod, she is so Vanessa.”" [on M.I.A. being the inspiration for the costumes of character Vanessa Abrams on television series Gossip Girl."

"Nicki Minaj: "I love M.I.A. … Based on that first video she put out ['Born Free'], She's not doing stuff for the mainstream applause, and I applaud her for that. She's a creative being and you're either gonna love it or hate it but you have to respect it. And I love her. When she hit me to do a record with her, I thought I had died and gone to heaven." Minaj also recalled the first time she heard "Paper Planes," when she thought, " 'Who is this bitch!?' I thought those were like the sickest lyrics. And then when I'd watch her videos, she doesn't give a fuck. That's what we want more of, we want people who don't give a fuck.""

"Nelly Furtado: "I have heard bits of the M.I.A Album and it is so cool..what a flow, what a style...and girl can dance!!!" [Listening to album Arular during the recording of Loose.]"

"Nicole Scherzinger of Pussycat Dolls:"

"Missy Elliott:"

"Mike Shinoda: "On our first Fort Minor tour, Styles of Beyond were touring with me. [Bucky Done Gun] by M.I.A. was practically the theme song that tour. I think our crew was sick of hearing it! At any rate, I think that's what one of my favorite things about music is: those times when hearing a song reminds you of a time in your past, when it connects you directly with the memory every time you hear it. Good song.""

"Nas: "Her sound is the future.""

"Melody Thornton of Pussycat Dolls:"

"Kreayshawn: "The only show I saved all my money to go see was MIA.. Twice!!""

"Kim Gordon: "I went to see M.I.A. play at Mount Holyoke, and it was a hall filled with girls, and they were going crazy. I could hear the beats more live, the record is so dense. I like her lyrics. I like that her music is rhythms upon rhythms. It escapes genre. I wouldn’t even call it a hip-hop record, I’d just call it M.I.A. She had this great footage of tribal dancers and these two young girls dancing onstage who were amazing. “Kala” (Interscope) has great grooves — it’s very colorful, lots of texture and density. The rhythms aren’t generic. They’re intuitive and organic.""

"Krist Novoselic of Nirvana: "There's much to admire about the rapper M.I.A. She's a working mom, a dynamite performer, and a writer of songs, like "Bucky Done Gun," that command you to give the volume knob a twist. And with her outspoken political views and heart for her homeland, Mathangi Arulpragasam [sic] reflects the global consciousness of the information revolution....An ethnic Tamil, M.I.A. is a member of the minority that makes up the northern part of Sri Lanka, a country governed by the majority Sinhalese since the end of WWII. The Sinhalese-controlled government and Tamil's rebel fighters had been involved in a decades-long civil war until the rebel leader was killed and their fighters routed, thus putting an end to the conflict. M.I.A. has been giving interviews regarding the humanitarian costs of the military action, including the 300,000 displaced ethnic Tamils, many living in overcrowded camps. This reminds me of my situation in the early 1990s during the war in the former Yugoslavia. I had emerged from obscurity to play bass in the biggest band in the world. Being of Croatian heritage, I found myself speaking out about the war in the Balkans. (I lived in Yugoslavia in 1980 and have visited many times since.)...One person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter. We can toss this back and forth, but in the meantime too many innocents suffer. The Sri Lankan government has said that M.I.A. should stick with music and not worry about politics. It doesn't matter if she's Tamil or Sinhalese, M.I.A. is the most famous Sri Lankan in the world. She has the right to speak. I didn't know about Sri Lanka and the trouble there until M.I.A. made me aware. Her work can be political, but that aspect never seems overbearing. Thank you, Mathangi Arulpragasa, for bringing my attention to what's going on in that part of our world. And a big thanks for the great tunes as well!""