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Every once in a while, you live long enough to get the respect that people didn't want to give while you were trying to become a senior citizen.

Gil Scott-Heron

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Gil Scott-Heron
Age: 62 †
Born: 1949
Born: April 1
Died: 2011
Died: May 27
Composer
Costume Designer
Performing Artist
Pianist
Poet
Rapper
Recording Artist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
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Writer
Chicago
Illinois
Glibert Scott-Heron
Gil Scott Heron
Gilbert Scott-Heron
Long
Didn
People
Become
Give
Live
Enough
Senior
Giving
Citizen
Trying
Citizens
Every
Respect

More quotes by Gil Scott-Heron

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Our accomplishments show what kind of people we are.
Gil Scott-Heron
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I find it not just strange but almost ridiculous that people could take a song like the one I was doing and interpret it is corroding anything. Folks have the feeling that oftentimes if you don't talk about something it will go away.
Gil Scott-Heron
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America .. the international Jekyll and Hyde ... the land of a thousand disguises, sneaks up on you but rarely surprises
Gil Scott-Heron
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Every show that sells out is like a hero's welcome for me.
Gil Scott-Heron
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The revolution will be no re-run brothers, The revolution will be live.
Gil Scott-Heron
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As for money - when I have it, it's great. When I don't, I go get some. I've been a dishwasher, a gardener, a cleaner.
Gil Scott-Heron
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Everything that's bad for you catches on too quickly in America, because that's the easiest thing to get people to invest in, the pursuits that are easy and destructive, the ones that bring out the least positive aspects of people.
Gil Scott-Heron
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I tour more than I need to, more than is good for you. But it's my favorite part of music. I much prefer it to studio work.
Gil Scott-Heron
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Oftentimes, the way it seems to be is that our artists in particular point themselves out as spokesmen for a certain constituency in a community, and thereby place themselves in that vulnerable position.
Gil Scott-Heron
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I try not to take people who haven't really thought out what they're doing too seriously. I try not to let them get in the way of what I feel I need to do.
Gil Scott-Heron
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If you aren't having no fun, die, because you're running a worthless program, far as I'm concerned.
Gil Scott-Heron
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I work hard at it [delivery of lyrics], just like I worked hard at getting my masters degree. It's not just something I sit down and do. You have to learn and keep learning.
Gil Scott-Heron
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I think a whole lot of stuff gets by people - I could name half a dozen groups that do songs that are openly supportive of experimentation with drugs, nobody ever said anything to them.
Gil Scott-Heron
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A lot of folks are so busy trying to get their groceries together that they don't have time to do research. I have time. Maybe that's the main difference.
Gil Scott-Heron
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I don't see any independent position that I'm in it's rather inter-dependent.
Gil Scott-Heron
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Paul Robeson once said that the artist has the responsibility to either help liberate the community or further oppress it. And I think that when Eldridge Cleaver wrote it down it was interpreted as his, but there's a history of people saying things of that nature and meaning it. And what I do is in that tradition, in that mode.
Gil Scott-Heron
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All the dreams you show up in are not your own.
Gil Scott-Heron
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If someone comes to you and asks for help, and you can help them, you're supposed to help them. Why wouldn't you? You have been put in the position somehow to be able to help this person.
Gil Scott-Heron
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I am a black man dedicated to expression expression of the joy and pride of blackness. I consider myself neither poet, composer, or musician. These are merely tools used by sensitive men to carve out a piece of beauty or truth that they hope may lead to peace and salvation.
Gil Scott-Heron
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I don't mind being criticized. I enjoy being criticized personally, not by rumor.
Gil Scott-Heron