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The catchword I use with my classes is: The authority of the writer always overcomes the skepticism of the reader.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
The only way you can grow is to let yourself make mistakes and create contradictions. As we learn new things, some of our old attitudes will change.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr.
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It's not a ladder we're climbing, it's literature we're producing. . . . We cannot possibly leave it to history as a discipline nor to sociology nor science nor economics to tell the story of our people.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
We obviously need the truth. We're living in a country of lies.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr.
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War is not a jobs program.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
What's the difference between dragging a black man behind a truck in Jasper, Texas, and beating a white boy to death in Wyoming because he's gay?
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
We love because it's the only true adventure.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
The unwillingness to try is worse than any failure.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
VISIBILITY - You've got to find a way to make people know you're there
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr.
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I used to go up to her house. She lived upstate [in New York] and I lived in Manhattan; you're living in a lot of noise and my career was being built. For me to spend time with Nina [Simone] is to spend a lot of quiet time.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
Writers ... I think ... live on that fine line between insanity and genius.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
For most of my life, I've thought of myself as pretty cool.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
In the name of peace They waged the wars ain't they got no shame
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr.
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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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
[To become a poet] The most important thing is to pay attention. The next would probably be to read; it's so important to pay attention. It keeps you from being bored, and I might add it keeps you from being boorish.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
White people really deal more with God and black people with Jesus.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr.