Quote

Daddy says the world is a drum tight and hard and I told him I'm gonna beat out my own rhythm.

Nikki Giovanni

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Nikki Giovanni
Age: 81
Born: 1943
Born: June 7
Poet
Teacher
Writer
Knoxville
Tennessee
Yolande Cornelia Giovanni
Jr
Rhythm
Beat
Beats
Gonna
Told
Says
Drum
Hard
Tight
World
Daddy

More quotes by Nikki Giovanni

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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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We write because we believe the human spirit cannot be tamed and should not be trained.
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You must be unintimidated by your own thoughts.
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We are better than we think and not yet what we want to be.
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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.
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You're only as good as your last book.
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Follow your image as far as you can no matter how useless you think it is. Push yourself.
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Death is a slave's freedom.
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[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.
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The trip to Mars can only be understood through Black Americans. I say, the trip to Mars can only be understood through Black Americans.
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We are less lonely when we connect. Art is connection.
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A lot of people refuse to do things because they don't want to go naked, don't want to go without guarantee. But that's what's got to happen. You go naked until you die.
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I don't have a life-style, I have a life.
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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.
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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.
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It's really just interesting to ask: why not? And see where that takes me.
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God knows it's a sign of a really sick mind to see grown people, adults with responsibilities, wearing class rings.
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We love because it's the only true adventure.
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A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it.
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It is not who you attend school with but who controls the school you attend.
Nikki Giovanni