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Fanatics are, for one thing, boring and, for another, unreliable. They tend to burn out just when you need them.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
I would put books on par with chocolate, because a good book is delicious.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr.
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I think it's the strength of her music, using art to make a statement. I think it really is. It was not a cheap gift. The gift was an expensive gift for Nina [Simone]. Diamonds are expensive. Her music was expensive. She paid for it, but I think it's her greatest gift.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
But nonviolence was never for the oppressor; it was for the oppressed.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
One stands, in fact, in awe of the Constitution of the United States, though it is an idea and not quite a reality.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
Don't want to be near you for the thoughts we share but the words we never have to speak.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
You're only as good as your last book.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr.
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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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
I like what they're doing. I think they're doing a good job, and I know that a lot of people are upset by them. These are great young men and women, and they're bold, and they are saying to America, "Something's going to change." I'm very proud of them.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
School should be eleven months of the year.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
[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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
There're two people in the world that are not likeable: a master and a slave.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr.
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Art offers sanctuary to everyone willing to open their Hearts as well as their Eyes.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
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. -
We eat up artists like there's going to be a famine at the end.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
[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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
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.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr.
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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-
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. -
Young people coming up who are having difficulty with their so-called celebrity need to get back into their lives. It's your life and you can't let the fact that you do something pretty good take away the joy of it.
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. -
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.'
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr.