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I think the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor. I don't think the black people are going to rise at all I think most of them are going to die.

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
People
Rise
Rich
Dies
Poor
Black
Going
Think
Thinking

More quotes by Nina Simone

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To be young, gifted and black!
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It's a good time for black people to be alive.
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This may be a dream, but I'll say it anyway: I was supposed to be married last year, and I bought a gown. When I meet Nelson Mandela, I shall put on this gown and have the train of it removed and put aside, and kiss the ground that he walks on and then kiss his feet.
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Theory and harmony broadened my mind in music. I know what music is made of.
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Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.
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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.
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What is love but a prelude to sorrow...with heartache ahead for your goal.
Nina Simone
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That's a very high goal to have, study eight hours a day to be a concert pianist.
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You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.
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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.
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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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Desegregation is a joke.
Nina Simone
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I'm a nut for Bach as a composer.
Nina Simone
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There are all kinds of things that can be done. You can change rhythms, you can change chords, you can change whole concepts. But it will only work, on a record or in a performance, if you can make the people buy it.
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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It is difficult to retain your standards with the pressure of trying to make money, which always has its rules...It's hard to walk the tightrope of doing what you think is your best and making money at it.
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 try to swim every damn day I can, and I've learned to scuba dive and snorkel.
Nina Simone
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I play piano, by ear. Yes, I write songs... and good ones.
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I know I'm different, but I don't think about it.
Nina Simone