Nikki Giovanni Quotes

Poetry is the most mistaught subject in any school because we teach poetry by form and not by content.

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

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

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.

One stands, in fact, in awe of the Constitution of the United States, though it is an idea and not quite a reality.

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

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.

If culture was a railroad, I can see the tracks running from the Spirituals to the Hip Hop Nation.

The trip to Mars can only be understood through Black Americans. I say, the trip to Mars can only be understood through Black Americans.

You must be unintimidated by your own thoughts because if you write with someone looking over you shoulder, you'll never write.

The ability to take pride in your own work is one of the hallmarks of sanity.

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

It's really just interesting to ask: why not? And see where that takes me.

All systems require myths for their longevity.

There are some things we do simply because the doing is a success.

We are less lonely when we connect. Art is connection.

I appreciate and enjoy my age.

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

My dream is a red dress Above my knees High-heel red sandals And me coming over the top The music booming Hi Howie I will say With a lovely smile I don't want to play the game I want to be it.

I think speeches and fruit should always be fresh.

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

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

In law school they teach you that everything is a contract; well, in poetry everything is a narrative.

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

I try to impress upon my students the importance of looking, listening... paying attention, in other words. You must pay attention.

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

Death is a slave's freedom.

We are all either wheels or connectors. Whichever we are we must find truth and balance, which is a bicycle. Trust and balance are also essential to true love.

My main strength as a young writer was that I had no fear of making mistakes. I knew I would and I knew I could and would learn from them.

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.

A lot is yet to be enjoyed. I'd like to stomp grapes for wine. Go to Antarctica. Have dinner with Venus Williams who is the greatest tennis player ever.

I am ever fascinated by the human experience and by, actually, human beings.

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.

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

Language instruction should start in the first grade. Writing, also.

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

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

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

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.

We just didn't put any pressure on each other, and I think that everybody needs somebody, and I didn't do it to try to do it; it's what we [with Nina Simone] were to each other.

The job of the architect becomes more difficult in this secular age. Where once he had a god to extol, he now has humans like himself; where once he had "he," he now has "she" and "they.

The future is in good hands.

School should be eleven months of the year.

I spend a lot of time learning about bird watching.

Schools should serve breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack. No sugared drinks, no fast type food.

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

[To write poems] I think it's important to do research, and research mostly is going to come from books, so all of your reading is potentially helpful to your poetry.

Most of my books are a two-year project. I tend to follow my heart and my mind and research materials where they take me.

I always like summer best

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