Nikki Giovanni quotes:

I had a really nice childhood; I had great parents. I earned my allowance by washing dishes, and in the summer I earned my allowance by working in daddy's garden.

Poetry and music are very good friends. Like mommies and daddies and strawberries and cream - they go together.

you know a person is having a severe personality crisis if you see a high school class ring on a finger beyond the first semester in college. Male or female. It's a big sign saying nothing has mattered to my life since senior year.

I love you because no two snowflakes are alike, and it is possible, if you stand tippy-toe, to walk between the raindrops.

Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.

White people really deal more with God and black people with Jesus.

For most of my life, I've thought of myself as pretty cool.

Some say we are responsible for those we love. Others know we are responsible for those who love us.

I am honest; I try to be truthful. I like people and wish us well. We are not always deserving of our own best wishes.

Black Americans should be given credit for finding probably the perfect weapon; the weapon of the song. And that song continues. Most holocausts don't, so they have this bitterness left over. The phenomenon of the world, as far as Black Americans are considered, is that we are not a bitter people.

I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try.

There're two people in the world that are not likeable: a master and a slave.

I am proud of the hip hop generation. They are good business people and, actually, good people.

I spend a lot of time learning about bird watching.

Black love is black wealth

Black love is Black wealth and they'll probably talk about my hard childhood and never understand that all the while I was quite happy

Favorite poems are like favorite children. We definitely have them but we never tell as the others would have their feelings hurt.

Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.

We eat up artists like there's going to be a famine at the end.

Writers ... I think ... live on that fine line between insanity and genius ...

Everybody that loves freedom loves Harriet Tubman because she was determined not only to be free, but to make free as many people as she could.

Deal with yourself as a individual, worthy of respect and make everyone else deal with you the same way.

I think one of the nicest things that we created as a generation was just the fact that we could say, 'Hey, I don't like white people.'

Now, everything I do, I do because I want to. And I believe the best is yet to come.

The poet Melvin B. Tolson once said, 'A civilization is judged only in its decline.' That made sense to me. I would imagine the same is true for poets and tennis players.

I am totally fascinated by people and our history as I understand and continue to explore it. People have so much to give and so far to go and yet we have given and gone a great distance. It's really just interesting to ask: why not? And see where that takes me.

If I could come back as anything - I'd be a bird, first, but definitely the command key is my second choice.

If you were a pure bolt of fire-cutting the skies I'd touch you-risking my life-not because I'm brave or strong, but because I'm fascinated by what the outcome would be.

Poetry is the most informative of all of the arts because everything comes down to poetry. No matter what it is we are describing, ultimately we use either a metaphor; or we say "that's poetry in motion." You drink a glass of wine and say, "that's poetry in a bottle." Everything is poetry, so I think we come down to emotional information. And that's what poetry conveys.

BEFORE YOU JUMP OFF A BRIDGE OR HANG YOURSELF OR BE UNHAPPY PLEASE CONSIDER: LIVE FOR YOURSELF; THOSE WHO HATE YOU HAVE NO PURCHASE

ever been kidnapped by a poet if i were a poet i'd kidnap you put you in my phrases and meter....

Poetry is like air. It's one of the necessary things. Everyone benefits from poetry. And as you know, poetry is international. There are only two things that are truly international, poetry and wine.

I appreciate my my sleep In sleep my conversation is witty My home is dusted My office work is up to date The dog is even well behaved And food is on the table on time But then when I'm asleep I don't have you to clutter and confuse My hungry heart

We believe 'Peter Rabbit' because Beatrix Potter believes it. You have to.

You must invent your own games and teach us old ones how to play.

I hope that, reading 'Rosa,' people will remember their own family and friends and talk about what they did and did not do.

When you are skinning your customers, you should leave some skin on to grow again so that you can skin them again.

the world is not a pleasant place to be without someone to hold and be held by.

Sacred cows make very poor gladiators.

I am so hip even my errors are correct

Show me someone not full of herself and I'll show you a hungry person.

I move on feeling and have learned to distrust those who don't.

VISIBILITY - You've got to find a way to make people know you're there

The catchword I use with my classes is: The authority of the writer always overcomes the skepticism of the reader.

The only advice [for new writers and poets] I can offer is to be yourself: not the self someone else wants you to be, but the self you are. Enjoy yourself and your life. But most of all travel and eat. That's how we learn.

A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it.

We love because it's the only true adventure.

We write because we believe the human spirit cannot be tamed and should not be trained.

Art is not for the cultivated taste. It is to cultivate taste.

Everything will change. The only question is growing up or decaying.

Follow your image as far as you can no matter how useless you think it is. Push yourself.

There are things you stand up for because it's right.

If now isn't a good time for the truth I don't see when we'll get to it.

If everybody became a poet the world would be much better. We would all read to each other.

If you don't understand yourself you don't understand anybody else.

[My] Books are like puppies and children: you love each one for different reasons. I don't actually have a favorite because, if I were honest, I'm always more excited about what is coming.

A lot of people refuse to do things because they don't want to go naked, don't want to go without guarantee. But that's what's got to happen. You go naked until you die.

A lot of people refuse to do things because they don't want to go naked... . We as black people, we as people, we as the human species have got to get used to the fact we're not going to be right most of the time, not even when our intentions are good. We've got to go naked and see what happens.

A lot of people refuse to do things...

A white face goes with a white mind. Occasionally a black face goes with a white mind. Very seldom a white face will have a black mind.

All systems require myths for their longevity.

America may not be the best nation on earth, but it has conceived loftier ideals and dreamed higher dreams than any other nation. America is a heterogeneous nation of many different people of different races, religions, and creeds. Should this experiment go forth and prosper, we will have offered humans a new way to look at life; should it fail, we will simply go the way of all failed civilizations.

And like an unfaithful mate, once a car has let you down you never sort of trust it again.

and sometimes I sit down at my typewriter and I think not of someone cause there isn't anyone to think about and i wonder is it worth it

And you will understand all too soon That you, my children of battle, are your heroes

Art offers sanctuary to everyone willing to open their Hearts as well as their Eyes.

Baseball is already the world's most tranquil sport. It is probably the only active sport where you are not seriously required to be alive to play.

Because Nina's Simone music is incredibly honest. That's like saying, "Why does Jesus' word still stay around?" It's incredibly honest and it's good.

Being Black and poor is, I think, radically different from being anything else and poor. Poor, to most Blacks, is a state of mind. Those who accept it are poor; those who struggle are middle class.

Black Poetry is not for Black People...it is for everybody

But nonviolence was never for the oppressor; it was for the oppressed.

daddy says the world is a drum tight and hard and i told him i'm gonna beat out my own rhythm

Death is a slave's freedom.

Don't want to be near you for the thoughts we share but the words we never have to speak.

Educational progress is a national concern; education is a private one.

Everyone understands that love comes in many different packages and is used in many different ways. You cannot love beyond your years, nor can you fail to love beneath them.In other words, I think you get the love you need when you open your heart.

Facts are only tools to gain control over yourself and other people.

Fanatics are, for one thing, boring and, for another, unreliable. They tend to burn out just when you need them.

Floating to shore...riding a low moon...on a slow cloud.

go barefoot and be warm all the time not only when you go to bed and sleep

God knows it's a sign of a really sick mind to see grown people, adults with responsibilities, wearing class rings.

Hip-hop is a cultural expression - it's embracing.

His headstone said FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST But death is a slave's freedom We seek the freedom of free men And the construction of a world Where Martin Luther King could have lived and preached nonviolence.

History is wonderful. We have so much we can learn if we would quit making ideology out of history, and just deal with what happened.

I always like summer best

I always loved English because whatever human beings are, we are storytellers. It is our stories that give a light to the future. When I went to college I became a history major because history is such a wonderful story of who we think we are. English is much more a story of who we really are.

I am a big fan of the electronic book. I hate to see the old bookstores close, but they have to reinvent themselves. I believe the First Edition bookstore will be the next thing. People will read electronically, then decide they want to own that book. The author will then be invited to the old bookstores to sign. I think books will always be with us, but they will fill a different need.

I am a huge fan of the Black woman. I never hesitate to recommend her when times are bad or things go wrong.

I am of the generation of segregation. Black Lives Matter is post. I said today, and I will say all the time, "If Nina [Simone] were here, she'd have her Black Lives Matter [T-shirt] on." I think they're great kids. They don't need me or anybody else to tell them what to do.

I am proud of the hip hop generation. They are good business people and, actually, good people. It's strange that the only time the major press talks about them is when someone gets killed or does drugs or something; yet these are the same press people who made heroes out of the Mafia and other crooks, you know.

I appreciate and enjoy my age.

I do not understand why any poet or writer would run for office; that's a different sense of who you are. I'm just a poet. I am as truthful as I can be. That makes me an artist. I heed the people; I do not lead the people.

I don't have a life-style, I have a life.

I grow old though pleased with my memories The tasks I can no longer complete Are balanced by the love of the tasks gone past I offer no apology only this plea: When I am frayed and strained and drizzle at the end Please someone cut a square and put me in a quilt That I might keep some child warm And some old person with no one else to talk to Will hear my whispers And cuddle near

I have not tried to tell the people anything. I have shared my views with the people but I have not tried to lead or correct them, assuming they need correction.

I just think she was a wonderful woman. What I think of when I think of Nina [Simone] is someone that I could relate to, who didn't want anything from me, that could relate to me because I didn't want anything from her. It was nice.

I knew Stokely [Carmichael] and them, but when you got to that, you saw that Nina Simone started to take up their burden. She started to preach for them. She was taking on the burden of "I want to tell the people."

I like what they're doing. I think they're doing a good job, and I know that a lot of people are upset by them. These are great young men and women, and they're bold, and they are saying to America, "Something's going to change." I'm very proud of them.

I prefer her [Nina Simone] jazz period much more so than her folk period.

I think it's the strength of her music, using art to make a statement. I think it really is. It was not a cheap gift. The gift was an expensive gift for Nina [Simone]. Diamonds are expensive. Her music was expensive. She paid for it, but I think it's her greatest gift.

I think life is cotton candy on a rainy day. For those who grew up with cotton candy the old-fashioned way, it is very delicate. Pre-made cotton candy that has preservatives is not nearly as good or true. True cotton candy is sugar, color, and air and it melts very quickly. That was the metaphor - it can't be preserved, it can't be put aside, it can't be banked. It has to be experienced, like life.

I think speeches and fruit should always be fresh.

I think that too many strangers were in Nina Simone life, and not enough people that she knew and loved.

I used to dream militant dreams of taking over america to show these whitefolks how it should be done i used to dream radical dreams of blowing everyone away with my perceptive powers of correct analysis i even used to think that i'd be the one to stop the riot and negotiate the peace then i awoke & dug that if i dreamed natural dreams of being a natural woman doing what a woman does when she's natural i would have a revolution.

I want to be clear about this. If you wrote from experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy.

I was responding to one thing for the woman I knew, and there's another thing for what did she give, right. She [Nina Simone] was a great teacher.

I wish that she had had a black loon because I don't think that Nina [Simone] did. I have always had - I've been very fortunate - a group of little old ladies that I love and who love me, and who turned and to whom I turn at different times.

I would put books on par with chocolate, because a good book is delicious.

I've not learned the acceptable way of saying you fascinate me...I've not even learned how to say I like you without frightening people away-

If I can't do what I want to do, then my job is to not do what I want to do. It's not the same thing, but it's the best thing I can do.

If i can't have what i want . . . then my job is to want what i've got and be satisfied that at least there is something more to want

If you are sitting there waiting for someone to tell you how wonderful you are, you'll never get anything done. Women need to get over being women. I'm tired of that socialization of women; that we are always supposed to be sitting around pleasing somebody.

If you're a writer, the answer to everything is yes.

If you're creating a slave situation, you would almost never bring women. And if we look at Slavery for example, we look at the Greeks and the Romans, right? It was always men. They never brought any women. Because women carry the seeds of the revolution, right? And if you have the men by themselves, then you can do what the French did with the Blackfeet, which is breed them out.

Iife/personality must be taken as a total entity. All of your life is all of your life, and no one incident stands alone.

I'm a big fan of history - applying the lessons as well as the joys and sadness. If we pay attention, we would see how we affect each other. In terms of time, we are not that far from one another. If we were to look back a century, it would seem like a long time; but, if we look at it by decades then it's only 10 years, and by generations it's only five.

I'm an old storyteller. [When] I tell the story, it's about the story.

I'm glad I understand that while language is a gift, listening is a responsibility. (U.S. poet and writer, 1943- )

In the name of peace They waged the wars ain't they got no shame

It is not who you attend school with but who controls the school you attend.