Explore Quotes by Nikki Giovanni

I'm just totally fascinated by people.

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

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

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

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.

and sometimes I sit down at my typewriter and I think not of someone cause there isn't anyone to think about and i wonder is it worth it

I always loved English because whatever human beings are, we are storytellers. It is our stories that give a light to the future. When I went to college I became a history major because history is such a wonderful story of who we think we are. English is much more a story of who we really are.

There is always something to do. There are hungry people to feed, naked people to clothe, sick people to comfort and make well. And while I don't expect you to save the world I do think it's not asking too much for you to love those with whom you sleep, share the happiness of those whom you call friend, engage those among you who are visionary and remove from your life those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.

Art offers sanctuary to everyone willing to open their Hearts as well as their Eyes.

I would put books on par with chocolate, because a good book is delicious.

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

Who I am really keeps surprising me.

If you were a pure bolt of fire-cutting the skies I'd touch you-risking my life-not because I'm brave or strong, but because I'm fascinated by what the outcome would be.

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.

The poet can only write the poems; it takes the reader to complete the meaning.

Once you know who you are, you don't have to worry anymore.

The unwillingness to try is worse than any failure.

Black love is Black wealth and they'll probably talk about my hard childhood and never understand that all the while I was quite happy

We have a world to conquer...one person at a time...starting with ourselves.

What's the difference between dragging a black man behind a truck in Jasper, Texas, and beating a white boy to death in Wyoming because he's gay?