Sometimes I sound like gravel, and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream.
I didn't get interested in music. It was a gift from God.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nina Simone's quote reflects her belief that music was an innate talent bestowed upon her rather than a mere interest she developed.
In this quote, Nina Simone expresses her profound sense of gratitude for her musical abilities, suggesting that her talent was not simply a product of hard work or personal interests, but rather a divine gift. This perspective highlights the connection between art and spirituality, reinforcing the idea that true artistry often feels like a calling beyond one's control, emphasizing a deeper resonance with one's purpose in life.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech at a music award ceremony, one could quote Simone to emphasize the innate nature of musical talent.
More from Nina Simone
All quotes βJazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.
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.
Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.
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.
I have to be composed; I have to be poised. I have to remember what my first piano teacher told me: 'You do not touch that piano until you are ready and until they are ready to listen to you.
Similar quotes
And then he danced,-all foreigners excel the serious Angels in the eloquence of pantomime;-he danced, I say, right well, with emphasis, and a'so with good sense-a thing in footing indispensable: he danced without theatrical pretence, not like a ballet-master in the van of his drill'd nymphs, but like a gentleman.
Part of what horror is, is taking risks and going somewhere that people think you're not supposed to be able to go, in the name of expressing real-life fears.
To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful.
What inspires a poem for me is usually a moment.
Colors in painting are as allurements for persuading the eyes, as the sweetness of meter is in poetry.
Ordinary people waited till life disclosed to them its secrets, but to the few, to the elect, the mysteries of life were revealed before the veil was drawn away. Sometimes this was the effect of art, and chiefly of the art of literature, which dealt immediately with the passions and the intellect.