Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. (Nikki Giovanni) Quotes
Style has a profound meaning to Black Americans. If we can’t drive, we will invent walks and the world will envy the dexterity of our feet. If we can’t have ham, we will boil chitterlings; if we are given rotten peaches, we will make cobblers; if given scraps, we will make quilts; take away our drums, and we will clap our hands. We prove the human spirit will prevail. We will take what we have to make what we need. We need confidence in our knowledge of who we are.

Quotes to Explore
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'Murder in the First' takes 12 episodes to explore the crime and the issues surrounding it, all in the hopes of answering the question, 'How did we get to this point?'
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I would love it if people could look at chubby folks with all of our curves, bumps and ridges and just say 'She's beautiful' just like that. You don't have to get on a treadmill as long as your blood pressure is under control and you eat healthy, God bless.
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I don't mind talking about 'what might have been,' but I am not one to doubt or regret most of my decisions.
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I was in the military, and then I went to university to study biology.
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Your private life is really very important for you. You know, all of us, you know.
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I made myself famous by writing 'songs' and lyrics about the beauty of the things I did and ugliness, too.
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I studied the lives of jazz singers who would tour Europe, and... what I learned was life was big ride for them. They'd seen the dark side of humanity... but touring the world playing jazz, it was a truly carefree way of living. A great escapism, if you like.
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I'm very interested in the idea of a large group of people who come together quite suddenly, but not illogically, for reasons that could not have been anticipated.
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Getting into Sundance is such a big platform for a director.
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Before Booker T. Washington, we have small business owners but we do not have a philosopher of black entrepreneurship, and that's what Washington was.
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Boning is a pain, but it makes such a majestic chicken.
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'EIla Enchanted' began in a marvelous writing course at New York City's The New School.
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I have this really high priority on happiness and finding something to be happy about.
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I am strictly against remaking a movie.
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Rand Paul does not like being compared to his father Ron any more than sons named Bush like to dance in their father's shadow, but the crucial difference is that while the Bushes all hail from the relative mainstream of the GOP, the Pauls have an ideological tributary virtually to themselves.
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If you get lazy when you're onstage, it shows.
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I don't want to collect Indian art, though pots and beadwork and blankets made by Indians remain the most beautiful art objects in the American West, in my opinion.
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One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil.
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I think music is my favorite thing to do, but I go through periods where I think differently.
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'The Descendants' somehow made death and adultery funny at times.
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Changing the DNA of a large, multilateral organization such as the United Nations to deal effectively with modern threats is not easy. Indeed, when the United Nations was created in the wake of World War II, threats came almost exclusively from one state carrying out acts of aggression against another.
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Seventy percent of the fish we eat is black market, fished in violation of international laws. Our ignorance makes us unwilling partners in crime. Rogue economics is turning the global market into our worst nightmare.
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Strong states and blocs of strong states are the only source of power and legitimacy capable of driving an international agenda in today's world.
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Style has a profound meaning to Black Americans. If we can’t drive, we will invent walks and the world will envy the dexterity of our feet. If we can’t have ham, we will boil chitterlings; if we are given rotten peaches, we will make cobblers; if given scraps, we will make quilts; take away our drums, and we will clap our hands. We prove the human spirit will prevail. We will take what we have to make what we need. We need confidence in our knowledge of who we are.