Quotes By Nikki Giovanni

There are things you stand up for because it's right.

Everything will change. The only question is growing up or decaying.

We believe 'Peter Rabbit' because Beatrix Potter believes it. You have to.

I had a really nice childhood; I had great parents. I earned my allowance by washing dishes, and in the summer I earned my allowance by working in daddy's garden.

We love because it's the only true adventure.

Favorite poems are like favorite children. We definitely have them but we never tell as the others would have their feelings hurt.

Sacred cows make very poor gladiators.

Hip-hop is a cultural expression - it's embracing.

Follow your image as far as you can no matter how useless you think it is. Push yourself.

I spend a lot of time learning about bird watching.

I'm just totally fascinated by people.

If you know what you're talking about, or if you feel that you do, the reader will believe you.

If everybody became a poet the world would be much better. We would all read to each other.

I am totally fascinated by people and our history as I understand and continue to explore it. People have so much to give and so far to go and yet we have given and gone a great distance. It's really just interesting to ask: why not? And see where that takes me.

We write because we believe the human spirit cannot be tamed and should not be trained.

If now isn't a good time for the truth I don't see when we'll get to it.

If I could come back as anything - I'd be a bird, first, but definitely the command key is my second choice.

For most of my life, I've thought of myself as pretty cool.

If you don't understand yourself you don't understand anybody else.

I think one of the nicest things that we created as a generation was just the fact that we could say, 'Hey, I don't like white people.'

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.

Art is not for the cultivated taste. It is to cultivate taste.

Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.

I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try.

The catchword I use with my classes is: The authority of the writer always overcomes the skepticism of the reader.

There're two people in the world that are not likeable: a master and a slave.

When you are skinning your customers, you should leave some skin on to grow again so that you can skin them again.

I appreciate and enjoy my age.

I am proud of the hip hop generation. They are good business people and, actually, good people.

White people really deal more with God and black people with Jesus.