Nikki Giovanni Quotes

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.

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

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

Libraries...house our dreams.

Life is a marvelous, transitory adventure.

War is not a jobs program.

Poets can tell the truth as they see it. It’s the author’s story, the author’s voice.

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.'

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

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

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

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

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

There is no such thing as writer's block. There is only not enough information. If you can't write, learn something.

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

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

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.

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

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

Rage is to writers what water is to fish.

Sacred cows make very poor gladiators.

[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.

Just as nature abhors a vacuum, humans resist change. Change will occur; vacuums will be filled.

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

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

We black women are the single group in the West intact. And anybody can see we're pretty shaky. We are, however (all praises), the only group that derives its identity from itself.

We must invest in tomorrow. And pay our teachers for teaching as we pay our coaches for coaching.

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

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

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

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

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

Nothing improves your writing, I think, as much as your keeping writing.

Who I am really keeps surprising me.

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

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.

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.

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

i hope i die warmed by the life that i tried to live

School buildings should be opened and used twenty four hours a day.

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-

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

I'm an old storyteller. I tell the story. It's about the story.

You're only as good as your last book.

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.

Poems don't have to rhyme... Poems are about beauty and emotion; in other words poems are about feelings.

Photographers direct the eye toward a particular object. We who write, one hopes, are directing the heart and the soul.

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.

The nature of tragedy and accident is that we cannot predict.

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