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The poet Melvin B. Tolson once said A civilization is judged only in its decline. That made sense to me. I would imagine the same is true for poets and tennis players.

Nikki Giovanni

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Nikki Giovanni
Age: 81
Born: 1943
Born: June 7
Poet
Teacher
Writer
Knoxville
Tennessee
Yolande Cornelia Giovanni
Jr
Player
Imagine
Decline
Sense
Poets
True
Judged
Made
Tennis
Would
Players
Civilization
Poet

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Black love is black wealth
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There are some things we do simply because the doing is a success.
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I prefer her [Nina Simone's] jazz period much more so than her folk period.
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Daddy says the world is a drum tight and hard and I told him I'm gonna beat out my own rhythm.
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Death is a slave's freedom.
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Everyone understands that love comes in many different packages and is used in many different ways. You cannot love beyond your years, nor can you fail to love beneath them... In other words, I think you get the love you need when you open your heart.
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Sacred cows make very poor gladiators.
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We must invest in tomorrow. And pay our teachers for teaching as we pay our coaches for coaching.
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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.
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Floating to shore...riding a low moon...on a slow cloud.
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I am a huge fan of the Black woman. I never hesitate to recommend her when times are bad or things go wrong.
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Schools should serve breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack. No sugared drinks, no fast type food.
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I am proud of the hip hop generation. They are good business people and, actually, good people. It's strange that the only time the major press talks about them is when someone gets killed or does drugs or something yet these are the same press people who made heroes out of the Mafia and other crooks, you know.
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Iife/personality must be taken as a total entity. All of your life is all of your life, and no one incident stands alone.
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We just didn't put any pressure on each other, and I think that everybody needs somebody, and I didn't do it to try to do it it's what we [with Nina Simone] were to each other.
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My work is a part of me and I know it. I have no reason to try to pick one part of me out from the rest. I only see my work, or rather I should say I see my work only telling my part of the human experience.
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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.
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Libraries...house our dreams.
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We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.
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Some say we are responsible for those we love. Others know we are responsible for those who love us.
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