Quotes By Nikki Giovanni

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.

You must invent your own games and teach us old ones how to play.

Poetry and music are very good friends. Like mommies and daddies and strawberries and cream - they go together.

Some say we are responsible for those we love. Others know we are responsible for those who love us.

We eat up artists like there's going to be a famine at the end.

Now, everything I do, I do because I want to. And I believe the best is yet to come.

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.

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

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

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

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.