Sun Ra Quotations

I'm playing dark history. It's beyond black. I'm dealing with the dark things of the cosmos.

Music is a language, you see, a universal language.

And then when I went to Chicago, that's when I had these outer space experiences and went to the other planets.

Today's symphonic music is sponsored by the upper structures of society.

But recently I began to feel that maybe I wouldn't be able to do what I want to do and need to do with American musicians, who are imprisoned behind these bars; music's got these bars and measures you know.

What I'm dealing with is so vast and great that it can't be called the truth. It's above the truth.

The world is in such a bad condition that if they don't find what you call a redeemer, every man, woman and child on this planet will be eliminated.

A prophet is not without honor except in his own country among his own people.

I'm not a minister, I'm not a philosopher, I'm not a politician, I'm in another category.

I use music as a medium to talk to people.

I see people as they really are from a pure point of view.

Bach and Beethoven, all of them, they had to write something to please the upper structure, those with money and power.

Not too many people in America know about me, but all of Europe knows about me.

People have set that up as a standard, not to recognize a prophet in his own country.

It's such a tragedy that man endures in killing his brother and his own kind, putting him in jail and insane asylums, letting him lay out in the street.

I am a musician, but I'm another type of musician.

A world is in danger, this planet is in great danger!

All these other nations seem to appreciate what I'm doing and they want me to play the furthest out things.

Heaven is where you'll be when you are okay right where you are.

Music is a language, a universal language.

I always say it's not my Arkestra, it belongs to some other force which wants certain things, to reach people.

I’m not a prophet. I’m a destiny-changer. It’s all right to prophesy, but the best thing to do is change things, if you’ve got the power.

Space is not only high, it's low. It's a bottomless pit.

Freedom of Speech is Freedom of Music.

The world thinks that music is a commercial commodity. I'm glad that is not my code.

Music can be the bridge to understanding, but people have to get some knowledge.

If death is the absence of life, then death's death is life.

The earth moves in a certain rhythm, a certain sound, a certain note. When the music stops the earth will stop and everything upon it will die.

It takes a motion to notion and it takes a notion to motion.

Sometimes in the ignorance I feel the meaning Invincible invisible wisdom, And I commune with intuitive instinct With the force that made life be And since it made life be It is greater than life And since it let extinction be It is greater than extinction. I commune with feelings more than prayer

Music is not material. Music is Spiritual.

With music you can express any emotion, you can paint pictures...

At first there was nothingthen nothing turned itself inside-out and became something

Proper evaluations of words and letters in their phonetic and associated sense can bring the people of earth to the clear light of pure cosmic wisdom.

The planet is asleep and it's the fault of musicians who are untrue to themselves.

I have many names; some call me Mr. Ra, others call me Mr. Re, you can call me Mr. Mystery.

The light of the future casts the shadows of tomorrow.

The outer space beings are my brothers. They sent me here. They already know my music.

The music is not part of this planet in a sense that the spirit of it is about happiness. Most musicians play earth things about what they know, but I found out that they are mostly unhappy and frustrated, and that creeps over into their music.

Behold the pre-prophetic symbols of the planes of Never. Behold, behold this thisness! This isness.

If you’re not mad at the world, you don’t have what it takes

Those who will not dance will have to be shot

Well, actually, I'm a psychic being, and you know, we don't concern ourselves with being born; we concern ourselves with being eternal; we deal with the spirit.

Art does not begin with imitation, but with discipline.

I think of myself as a complete mystery. To myself.

In the world of tomorrow, the new man will 'think' the place he wants to go, then his mind will take him there.

I'm not into division. I'm into coordination, discipline and tradition.

Music is a plane of wisdom, because music is a universal language, it is a language of honor, it is a noble precept, a gift of the Airy Kingdom, music is air, a universal existence common to all the living.

Somewhere in the other side of nowhere is a place in space beyond time where the Gods of mythology dwell. ... These gods dwell in their mythocracies as opposed to your theocracies, democracies, and monocracies. They dwell in a magic world. These Gods can even offer you immortality.

I never wanted to be a part of planet Earth, but I am compelled to be here, so anything I do for this planet is because the Master-Creator of the Universe is making me do it. I am of another dimension. I am on this planet because people need me.

The real aim of music is to co-ordinate the minds of the people into an intelligent reach for a better world and an intelligent approach to the living future.

Where human eyes have never seen, where human beings have never been, I build a world of abstract dreams, and I wait for you.

The possible has been tried and failed. Now it's time to try the impossible.