Quotes from Saul Williams

The wind plays the world like an instrument. Blows through trees like flutes. But trees won't grow in cement. And as heart beats bring percussion fallen trees bring repercussions. Cities play upon our souls like broken drums.

I am no earthling. I drink moonshine on Mars and mistake meteors for stars 'cause I can't hold my liquor. But I can hold my breath and ascend like wind to the black hole and play galaxophones on the fire escape of your soul.

I presented my feminine side with flowers. She cut the stems and placed them gently down my throat. And these tu lips might soon eclipse your brightest hopes.

We claim the present as the pre-sent, as the hereafter. We are unraveling our navels so that we may ingest the sun. We are not afraid of the darkness, we trust that the moon shall guide us. We are determining the future at this very moment. We now know that the heart is the philosophers' stone. Our music is our alchemy...

The forecast is we kiss goodbye and never hello all kisses are then parting kisses

look don't we make beautiful victims?

Which came first, the protest or the law?

Yes, there is a science to the aroma of sleeping women (AND TO THINK OF THE GIRLFRIEND i WAS TEMPTED TO BREAK UP WITH BECAUSE SHE SLEPT TOO MUCH) i now know, they nurtured her there: they slept in packs dreamt in cycles nursed her in shifts and became her on rotation.

Yes, there is a science to the aroma of sleeping women (and to think of the girlfriend I was tempted to break up with because she slept too much) i now know, they NURTURED here there: they slept in packs dreamt in cycles nursed her in shifts and became her ON ROTATION

I want a love that makes me need to change my cell phone calling plan To something allows me to talk to her longer 'cause in all honesty, I want to avoid one of them high cell phone bill type loves And I want a love that makes me regret how small my hands are I mean the lines on my palms don't give me enough time To love you as long as I'd like to type love.

Who me? I play scales. The scales of dead fish of oil-slicked seas. My sister blows wind through the hollows of fallen trees. And we are the echoes of eternity. Maybe you've heard of us. We do rebirths, revolts, and resurrections.

What is the subconscious process of healing? What does it take? Perhaps it is something like how old schoolers would say you heal from a snakebite: having to spit out the venom again and again until there is no more.

I spend my time sitting in train stations, parks, parking lots, cafes, just looking at people - eavesdropping, basically. I'm vulnerable to all of it.

I didn't ever want to make a rap album. I considered it too limiting. Now that's exactly what I've gone and done.

Why shouldn't rap be esoteric, able to take in current events, history and criticism? I guess it's this old idea of containment - that rappers, because they're black, can't and shouldn't aspire to look outside the ghetto for influence.

If we're gonna progress as a people we are going to realise that, as one of my favourite poets says, the other is a lie. There are no other people. Race is a social construct.

My father's a preacher, my mother's a teacher, thus I rhyme.

Hip-hop is still cool at a party. But to me, hip-hop has never been strictly a party it is also there to elevate consciousness.

More people than ever are slowly but surely turning their ears toward poetry.

I was always making up rhymes. But I never thought that poetry would become my life.

I think it's a mistake where rap music is these days. It doesn't seem to be able to look out of the ghetto and that's ultimately unfortunate, because it defines our limitations.

I am hoping for peaceful transition into a new age. Obama has already played a great role in initiating us into that vision. If he were to be harmed in any way, it would spawn the birth of a million Obamas.

Why shouldn't rap be esoteric, able to take in current events, history and criticism? I guess it's this old idea of containment - that rappers, because they're black, can't and shouldn't aspire to look outside the ghetto for influence.

The downfall of the industry seems to actually be good for art. I think the industry will find their way once the focus shifts from its greed-based origins, downsizes, and begins to support creative visions that speak to our times and shifting ideals.