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This is the world you have made yourself, now you have to live in it.

Nina Simone

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Nina Simone
Age: 75 †
Born: 1933
Born: February 21
Died: 2008
Died: April 21
Composer
Jazz Pianist
Recording Artist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Tryon
North Carolina
Eunice Kathleen Waymon
High Priestess of Soul
Live
Made
World

More quotes by Nina Simone

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I'm sorry that I did not become the world's first black classic pianist. I think I would have been happier.
Nina Simone
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When I was studying... there weren't any black concert pianists. My choices were intuitive, and I had the technique to do it. People have heard my music and heard the classic in it, so I have become known as a black classical pianist.
Nina Simone
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The Beatles are lucky, very lucky. But what has happened to them has nothing to do with them, in a sense. They came along at the right time. Attention was focused on them. They've had the chance to grow in almost any direction they wanted. Very lucky. They are not exceptionally talented.
Nina Simone
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You don't have to live next to me / Just give me my equality.
Nina Simone
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Music has been a burden and a joy for as long as I can remember.
Nina Simone
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Since I was three I've been playing the piano. I've been onstage.
Nina Simone
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I feel what they feel. And people who listen to me know that, and it makes them feel like they're not alone.
Nina Simone
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I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I've done my whole life, without thought.
Nina Simone
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Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.
Nina Simone
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To be young, gifted and black!
Nina Simone
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I don't like to go to strange places.
Nina Simone
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It's a good time for black people to be alive.
Nina Simone
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I play piano, by ear. Yes, I write songs... and good ones.
Nina Simone
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There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.
Nina Simone
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I do not believe in mixing of the races. You can quote me. I don't believe in it, and I never have. I've never changed. I've never changed my hair. I've never changed my color, I have always been proud of myself, and my fans are proud of me for remaining the way I've always been. I married a white man one time, but he was a creep
Nina Simone
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I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.
Nina Simone
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I do love to sing Jacques Brel songs, intensely. I get terribly excited, just by reading a couple of lines in any one of his songs.
Nina Simone
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Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, a song that was written for Simone, she confronted the band's lead singer, Eric Burdon. So you're the honky, she said, who stole my song and got a hit out of it?
Nina Simone
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Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.
Nina Simone
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I believe the time will come when the whole definition of pop music will change. It will get to the point where a song will not be a good song until it has a high level of creativity in writing and performance. In other words, in order to be popular, songs will have to meet these high standards.
Nina Simone