Favorite poems are like favorite children. We definitely have them but we never tell as the others would have their feelings hurt.
Nikki GiovanniRead
You must invent your own games and teach us old ones how to play.
Interpretation
Embrace creativity and innovation while sharing knowledge.
Nikki Giovanni's quote encourages individuals to think outside the box and create their own paths in life. It suggests that while we have traditional methods and practices ('old ones'), there is value in developing new ideas ('invent your own games') and sharing them with others, thereby enriching everyone's experience and understanding.
In practice
During a seminar on teaching methods, you might use this quote to encourage educators to develop innovative strategies.
Favorite poems are like favorite children. We definitely have them but we never tell as the others would have their feelings hurt.
I want to be clear about this. If you wrote from experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy.
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.
Style has a profound meaning to Black Americans. If we canβt drive, we will invent walks and the world will envy the dexterity of our feet. If we canβt have ham, we will boil chitterlings; if we are given rotten peaches, we will make cobblers; if given scraps, we will make quilts; take away our drums, and we will clap our hands. We prove the human spirit will prevail. We will take what we have to make what we need. We need confidence in our knowledge of who we are.
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.
The child awakens to a universe. The mind of the child to a world of meaning. Imagination to a world of beauty. Emotions to a world of intimacy. It takes a universe to make a child both in outer form and inner spirit. It takes a universe to educate a child. A universe to fulfill a child.
Books wrote our life story, and as they accumulated on our shelves (and on our windowsills, and underneath our sofa, and on top of our refrigerator), they became chapters in it themselves.
Learn to write well, or not to write at all.
I don't know. I imagine good teaching as a circle of earnest people sitting down to ask each other meaningful questions. I don't see it as a handing down of answers.
What separates developing countries from developed countries is as much a gap in knowledge as a gap in resources.
When I was growing up, my mother would always say, 'It will go on your permanent record.' There was no 'permanent record.' If there were a 'permanent record,' I'd never be able to be a lawyer. I was such a bum, in elementary school and high school... There is a permanent record today and it's called the Internet.
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