Creativity Quote by Patti Smith

Patti Smith makes the mundane sound like a manifesto. “My sunglasses are like my guitar” is funny on its face because it’s such an unexpected equivalence: one is a tool of vision and disguise, the other a tool of sound and revelation. That tension is the point. Smith’s whole persona has always lived in the overlap between hiding and declaring, between protective cool and raw exposure. Sunglasses give you distance; a guitar demands you show up.

The line also tweaks the idea of “rock accessories” as pure image. In most celebrity language, sunglasses are branding, a way to stay unreadable in public. Smith reframes them as equipment, not ornament. Like a guitar, they’re something you wear to do a job: to step into a role, manage the spotlight, and control what the audience gets. The subtext is practical, almost workmanlike: performance isn’t just inspiration; it’s gear, ritual, and armor.

Context matters because Smith isn’t a pop star whose mystique is manufactured by teams. She’s a poet-turned-punk icon who built a vocabulary of authenticity that still understands theater. Sunglasses, like a guitar, become a switch you flip when you enter the charged space of the stage or the street. They signal: I’m here to make something, not to be consumed. It’s a small sentence with a big attitude - art as survival kit, style as boundary, cool as a way to keep your own eyes.