Nikki Giovanni

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

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

In the name of peace they waged the wars. Ain't they got no shame?
Nikki Giovanni

A white face goes with a white mind. Occasionally a black face goes with a white mind. Very seldom a white face will have a black mind.
Nikki Giovanni

It is not who you attend school with but who controls the school you attend.
Nikki Giovanni

And he said: you pretty full of yourself ain't chu. So she replied: show me someone not full of Herself and I'll show you a hungry person.
Nikki Giovanni

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

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 live those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.
Nikki Giovanni

I'm glad I understand that while language is a gift, listening is a responsibility.
Nikki Giovanni

We love because it's the only true adventure.
Nikki Giovanni

It's a sex object if you're pretty and no love or love and no sex if you're fat.
Nikki Giovanni

Show me someone not full of herself and I'll show you a hungry person.
Nikki Giovanni

Deal with yourself as a individual, worthy of respect and make everyone else deal with you the same way.
Nikki Giovanni

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

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

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.
Nikki Giovanni

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

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

Don't want to be near you for the thoughts we share but the words we never have to speak.
Nikki Giovanni

Nothing is easy to the unwilling.
Nikki Giovanni

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

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

His headstone said "Free at last, Free at last" - But death is a slave's freedom - We seek the freedom of free men - And the construction of a world - Where Martin Luther King could have lived - and preached non-violence.
Nikki Giovanni, The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Some say we are responsible for those we love. Others know we are responsible for those who love us.
Nikki Giovanni, The December of My Springs