Ruben Santiago-Hudson Quotes

I'm a writer. My job is to speak what - that which I think is true. If that bridges the gap, that's good. If it doesn't, that's too bad.

I am quite certain in my heart of hearts that modern music and modern art is not a conspiracy, but is a form of truth and integrity for those who practise it honestly, decently and with all their being.

I do not just write, I write what I am. If there is a secret, perhaps that is it.

Although rap is about boasting, it's also about honesty and expressing your emotions.

The only thing you can really say in a poem is what you really, really deeply believe.

Being honest is my job. That's what music is for me.

The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity.

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.

Art is about expressing the true nature of the human spirit in whatever way one wishes to express it. If it is honest, it is beautiful. If it is not honest, it is obvious.

People ask what are my intentions with my films - my aims. It is a difficult and dangerous question, and I usually give an evasive answer: I try to tell the truth about the human condition, the truth as I see it. This answer seems to satisfy everyone, but it is not quite correct.

That's something that I think the best artists retain - the ability to invite you into their small, intimate inner space, and let that be what radiates.

If you write, write about what you do and who you are, and you can't be wrong. Don't lie about anything. You are very similar to everybody else in the world. You love, you hate, you have friends, you have enemies. Be who you are.

I feel as though there are things that I'm trying to do - you know, capturing truthfully some aspect of human experience - and I'm trying really hard not to be fake. And in writing, as in life, it's harder than you think.

I wouldn't be a writer if I couldn't tell the truth.

Be it 120 frames or 24 frames or film or theatre, you're trying to be a fully formed human being and trying to be honest.

If I can't be honest with music, forget it.

I think art is much more valuable when it's honest. If it's not honest, it's just propaganda.

The only obligation you have as a film-maker is to tell your version of the truth and to use your film to illuminate reality. Whatever that means.

Please understand that I make music to express myself, and if you know anything about me, you know that I'm nothing but honest.

When I think of artists I love, like J. Cole, it's the storytelling that grabs me. I want to be honest with my music.

You do your best to tell your own story, in the most specific way, and then you hope that that travels well, when it's done with heart and honesty.

The point of departure must always be a vision of the truth. The eye is the route of the soul, and the pencil or brush must sincerely and naïvely reproduce what it sees.

I'm not a politician; I'm an artist. So I always feel the need to give the unfiltered truth, (or) what I think is the truth, at least.

I've come to realize that people connect more when they know you're telling them the truth or some aspect of your story, some mutated version of how you are experiencing this life.

My art is just an effort to express the truth of my being in gesture and movement. It has taken me long years to find even one absolutely true movement.