Jack Smith on Language

Look what I have to do in order to think of thoughts. I have to forget language. All I can do with no education, nothing, no advice, an insane mother I mean no background, nothing, nothing, and I have to make art, but I know that under these conditions the one thing I had to find out was if I could think of a thought that has never been thought before, then it could be in language that was never read before. If you can think of something, the language will fall into place in the most fantastic way. The language is shit, I mean it’s only there to support a thought… Whatever new thoughts you can think of that the world needs will automatically be clothed in the most radiant language imaginable. — Jack Smith, Semiotext(e), 1978