Best 177 quotes of Nikki Giovanni on MyQuotes

All systems require myths for their longevity.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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

Black love is black wealth

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

Daddy says the world is a drum tight and hard and I told him I'm gonna beat out my own rhythm.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

I am so hip even my errors are correct

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.

I appreciate and enjoy my age.

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

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.

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

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