Serj Tankian > Quotes

“Pretending that we live doesn't make us alive.”
― Serj Tankian

“We are the cause of a world that's gone wrong. Nature will survive us, we've been wrong after all. We are the cause of a world that's gone wrong. Wouldn't it be great to heal the world with only a song? (Sky is Over)”
― Serj Tankian

“Day is just a collection of hours.”
― Serj Tankian

“I've always thought of the sky as, like, an open canvas. When I was a kid and I looked at the sky, I always remember being able to daydream, just looking at the sky, being creative, being able to design things. What would happen if we had no sky? Where would we be? Well, obviously, scientifically, without an atmosphere, we'd all be dead.
”
― Serj Tankian

“I really feel like civilisation's already over. It's not ending but it's already done. We're all addicted to the concept that humanity equals civilisation and that's not the case. We need a global conversation to be able to decipher how we can live from this point forward. We have to redefine our relationship with our environment.”
― Serj Tankian

“I've had people come up to me with the strangest interpretations of what my lyrics might mean, and I'm like, "You go! I never thought of that, but that works,"...I think that true art is a universal reflection, and true artists are just messengers of that reflection or, at best, skilled presentors. ”
― Serj Tankian

“The diversity of sounds rule my ever presence with their highs and blows, encompassing the totality of sensual experience. I'm a child of the sirens of knowledge, a warrior for the truth in a world of washed perspectives and harsh realities. My voice cries the initial cry of the unborn into the perplexing illusion. I long for the realization of the human drama, the defeat of the dogs war, and the unity of existence. The beloved Gods of virtue have been undersold for the bleeding bread of empathy. I now awaist the triumphant roar of destiny, dressed in the inviting hand of a mother, perplexed by discovering, aroused by spirit. The door is open, the road transformed. The exit code to civilization is hacked beyond dispair, chased but the moon toward the freeing sun, on our journey to light. This is an open plea to the beautiful insanity of your hearts. It is time to consummate the kiss of oblivion into the obsidian of love!”
― Serj Tankian

“If genocide is ultimately an act of erasure, denial is its final, comprehensive deed.”
― Serj Tankian, Down with the System: A Memoir

“I think music has the ability to inspire people and to change hearts, and the heart has the power to change the mind, and the mind has the power to change the world.”
― Serj Tankian

“I asked John how he was able to fall asleep so easily on the road. His response is engraved into my memory. He turned to me casually and said, “I just imagine large planes bombing the shit out of the whole planet to a point where there is nothing to think of, and then I gently go to sleep.” My jaw dropped. What the fuck, psycho? That was John.”
― Serj Tankian, Down with the System

“Freedom is only available through Death!”
― Serj Tankian

“Everyone is born pure, and it’s the very act of living—fighting for our survival—that beats the purity and goodness out of us.”
― Serj Tankian, Down with the System

“I’ve always felt that on the day of reckoning, if there is one, we will not be divided into believers and nonbelievers, but instead we’ll be divided between those who truly feel at one with all beings and the universe, and those who don’t.”
― Serj Tankian, Down with the System: A Memoir

“Civilization is a failure. We need to think what we can do together in love and peace.”
― Serj Tankian

“Is the stress of injustice really something we should aim to alleviate? Shouldn't we feel as much of that pain and stress as we can bear so that we're moved to fix it?”
― Serj Tankian, Down with the System: A Memoir

“About three-four years ago I was vacationing in Paris and I had a dream one night and in this dream I saw a full song: a guitar being played by this hands, a voice coming out from the ether, singing "baby, baby, I miss you." It led me to the firm belief, it reconfirmed my ideals that music comes from the universe. It doesn't come from us artists, the inspiration is out there. It comes from the ether, from collective consciousness and at best we are skilled presenters and it belongs to all of us. It's this most amazing feeling, this intuitive connection, that connects all beings on this planet”
― Serj Tankian

“My cock is much bigger than yours”
― Serj Tankian

“People often run toward what they imagine is pragmatic, because it all seems so tangible. A good job, a steady income, a 401k, health benefits. But when you've seen that all disappear, you realize those things are more ephemeral than they seem. They have no meaning beyond their economic worth. Music or art, on the other hand, felt meaningful to me by virtue of their mere existence. Art doesn't need accountants or balance sheets to validate it. It just is. If I write a song, or I hear a song that makes me feel something, that's the whole fruit and its seed. It doesn't matter what else happens or doesnt happen with that song, it doesnt matter who buys it or who hears it. The way it makes ME feel, the way it makes someone else feel, is the whole fucking point. Coming to understand this, changed my life. Music liberated me, and in the face of that, who really gave a shit what happened to my software company.”
― Serj Tankian, Down with the System: A Memoir

“The American Dream is often portrayed as an upward climb – hard, for sure, but always ascending to greater heights. In fact, as I came to understand it, the American Dream is more like a rollercoaster, with towering peaks, deep valleys, and all sorts of sharp twists and turns in between. And like a rollercoaster, the ride itself could be disorienting enough to make you sick.”
― Serj Tankian, Down with the System: A Memoir

“In some ways, the idea of a person arriving in the US with a few hundred dollars to his name, a family to feed, and an inability to speak fluent English quickly going on to start his own successful business just a few years later feels almost superhuman. In fact, it's what immigrants do all the time. Perhaps the idea of America as a land of opportunity inherently attracts people who are entrepreneurial, who are risk-takers, but I also think there is an element of people arriving with so little that they've got nothing left to lose. The American Dream is often understood in a way that flatters America's conception of itself, but at best, that's only half the story. The other half are the immigrants who, generation after generation, take huge chances, work incredibly hard, and achieve things that those born here might be less likely to attempt.”
― Serj Tankian, Down with the System: A Memoir

“Our freedom is raped by the war-like advances in technology.”
― Serj Tankian, Glaring Through Oblivion

“The nineteenth-century French novelist Gustave Flaubert once wrote, “Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.” That was a lot closer to my way of thinking than bloodying my bandmates to settle petty disputes. Of course, Flaubert never opened for Slayer.”
― Serj Tankian, Down with the System: A Memoir