Home / Authors / Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni Quotes

Writer

Nikki Giovanni is an American poet, writer, and activist, born on June 7, 1943. She is renowned for her poignant and evocative poetry that frequently tackles social and political issues. Giovanni's writing has had a profound impact on the African American literary community and beyond, earning her numerous awards and accolades for her literary contributions.

Filter quotes by topic

All People Thinking Ifs Poetry Black Poem Want Writing Needs African Americans Blacks Knows Nina Should World Humans Book Life Love Poet

Famous Nikki Giovanni Quotes

“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.”

People World Matter Enjoy Advantage No Matter What Embrace Transition New World

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“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.”

People Giving Asks Given Interesting Gone Distance Why Not Take Me Fascinated

Author:Nikki Giovanni

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

People World Two Masters Slavery Slave Be A Slave Likeable

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“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.”

People Want Reality Happens Dies Inspiring Refuse Naked Guarantees

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“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.'”

People Thinking Facts White Generations Hey

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“I am proud of the hip hop generation. They are good business people and, actually, good people.”

People Generations Proud Hip Hop Hips Hops Good People Good Business

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“God knows it's a sign of a really sick mind to see grown people, adults with responsibilities, wearing class rings.”

People Knows Mind Responsibility Class Adults Sick Rings Adulthood God Knows

Book:Sacred cows-- and other edibles

Source: Sacred cows-- and other edibles

“Facts are only tools to gain control over yourself and other people.”

People Facts Gains Tools Over You

Book:The Prosaic Soul of Nikki Giovanni

Source: The Prosaic Soul of Nikki Giovanni

“America may not be the best nation on earth, but it has conceived loftier ideals and dreamed higher dreams than any other nation. America is a heterogeneous nation of many different people of different races, religions, and creeds. Should this experiment go forth and prosper, we will have offered humans a new way to look at life; should it fail, we will simply go the way of all failed civilizations.”

People Way Should Humans Looks May Different Dream Earth America Nations Race Failing Higher Civilization Ideals Experiments Being The Best Creeds New Ways Different Peoples Different Races

Book:Racism 101

Source: Racism 101

“I have not tried to tell the people anything. I have shared my views with the people but I have not tried to lead or correct them, assuming they need correction.”

People Needs Views Assuming Corrections

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“I do not understand why any poet or writer would run for office; that's a different sense of who you are. I'm just a poet. I am as truthful as I can be. That makes me an artist. I heed the people; I do not lead the people.”

People I Can Different Running Artist Poet Office Who You Are Truthful Heed

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“I am a big fan of the electronic book. I hate to see the old bookstores close, but they have to reinvent themselves. I believe the First Edition bookstore will be the next thing. People will read electronically, then decide they want to own that book. The author will then be invited to the old bookstores to sign. I think books will always be with us, but they will fill a different need.”

People Thinking Want Needs Firsts Believe Book Different Bigs Hate Next I Believe Fans I Hate Invited Bookstores

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“I hope that, reading 'Rosa,' people will remember their own family and friends and talk about what they did and did not do.”

People Remember Reading Family And Friends Rosa

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“Everybody that loves freedom loves Harriet Tubman because she was determined not only to be free, but to make free as many people as she could.”

People Determined Love Freedom

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“Storytelling is how history is passed. It's what our ancestors did, it's what everybody's done. It has to come back into a story because otherwise, it's stuck in this book and it's boring and it's academic and I'm not against intelligence and I'm not against education, I don't want to be misunderstood, but we have tell the stories to our young people a little bit early and history gives us a lot of things.”

People Want Giving Littles Book Done Stories Young Bits Little Bit Boring Stuck Storytelling Ancestor Academic Misunderstood

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“Young people coming up who are having difficulty with their so-called celebrity need to get back into their lives. It's your life and you can't let the fact that you do something pretty good take away the joy of it.”

People Needs Facts Young Joy Difficulty Get Back

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“We all have our muses. My grandmother and my mother are the people I write for. I'll never have to worry about who buys my work, or who likes it, and who doesn't. The people who I want to be proud of me already are.”

People Want Writing Mother Worry Proud Likes Grandmother Muse Be Proud My Grandmother Proud Of Me

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“We [Black people] have always used our creativity to battle and we're not the only ones. Black Americans are certainly leaders in that simply because we were denied education and dealt with enforced illiteracy. But people seem to always forget that literacy is not the only way of learning things or conveying knowledge.”

People Way Seems Used Black Forget Leader Creativity Battle Black People Denied Literacy Illiteracy Conveying

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“Black Americans should be given credit for finding probably the perfect weapon; the weapon of the song. And that song continues. Most holocausts don't, so they have this bitterness left over. The phenomenon of the world, as far as Black Americans are considered, is that we are not a bitter people.”

People World Should Song Left Given Black Perfect Findings Weapons Credit Bitter Phenomenon Bitterness Holocaust Bitter People

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“You have to use what you have in order to get what you need and the people can not be rich unless somebody is rich. The Hip-Hop generation has carried more people with it than any other enterprise Black Americans have had.”

People Needs Use Order Black Rich Generations Hip Hop Hips Enterprise Hops Can Not

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“I am honest; I try to be truthful. I like people and wish us well. We are not always deserving of our own best wishes.”

People Trying Wells Wish Honest Truthful Deserving Being Truthful Best Wishes

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“Writing is a conversation with reading; a dialogue with thinking. All conversations with older people contain repetition. Some of the ideas mean a lot to me, just interesting, so I both embrace and attack the ideas because I found them, well, delightful.”

People Thinking Writing Wells Mean Ideas Reading Found Interesting Conversation Embrace Dialogue Repetition Delightful Older People

Book:Racism 101

Source: Racism 101

“I think that too many strangers were in her [Nina Simone's] life, and not enough people that she knew and loved.”

People Thinking Enough Stranger Nina

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“I knew Stokely [Carmichael] and them, but when you got to that, you saw that Nina Simone started to take up their burden. She started to preach for them. She was taking on the burden of "I want to tell the people."”

People Want Saws Burden Nina

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“I like what they're doing. I think they're doing a good job, and I know that a lot of people are upset by them. These are great young men and women, and they're bold, and they are saying to America, "Something's going to change." I'm very proud of them.”

People Thinking Knows Men Jobs America Young Proud Men And Women Upset Young Man Good Job

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“I am proud of the hip hop generation. They are good business people and, actually, good people. It's strange that the only time the major press talks about them is when someone gets killed or does drugs or something; yet these are the same press people who made heroes out of the Mafia and other crooks, you know.”

People Knows Doe Made Generations Strange Proud Hero Drug Majors Presses Hip Hop Hips Hops Good People Only Time Mafia Crooks Good Business

Author: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 life those who offer you depression, despair and disrespect.”

“I’ve not learned the acceptable way of saying you fascinate me...I’ve not even learned how to say I like you without frightening people away-”

People Way Like You Acceptable Frightening I Like You

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“VISIBILITY - You've got to find a way to make people know you're there”

People Knows Way Visibility

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“White people really deal more with God and black people with Jesus.”

People Jesus Black White Deals Black People Godly

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“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.”

People Stories Literature Discipline Economics Climbing Sociology Ladders

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“Black Poetry is not for Black People...it is for everybody”

People Black Poetry Is Black People

Author:Nikki Giovanni

“Life is a process where people mix and match, fall apart and come back together.”

People Life Together Life Is Fall Process Falling Apart Back Together

Book:Racism 101

Source: Racism 101

“A lot of people refuse to do things because they don't want to go naked... . We as black people, we as people, we as the human species have got to get used to the fact we're not going to be right most of the time, not even when our intentions are good. We've got to go naked and see what happens.”

People Want Humans Facts Happens Used Black Intention Species Refuse Naked Black People Human Species

Author:Nikki Giovanni

About the Author

Born: June 7, 1943
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 227

Related Topics

People Thinking Ifs Poetry Black Poem Want Writing Needs African Americans Blacks Knows Nina Should World Humans Book Life Love Poet

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Sacred cows-- and other ediblesRelated source material

AcolytesRelated source material

Racism 101Related source material

Ego-Tripping and Other Poems for Young PeopleRelated source material

My HouseRelated source material

Conversations with Nikki GiovanniRelated source material

Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Like My Sister Kate: Looking At The Harlem Renaissance Through PoemsRelated source material

The women and the menRelated source material

Those who ride the night windsRelated source material

Black Feeling, Black Talk / Black JudgementRelated source material

Similar Authors

Russell SimmonsBrowse related quotes
Toni MorrisonBrowse related quotes
Alice WalkerBrowse related quotes
Taylor SwiftBrowse related quotes
Madonna CicconeBrowse related quotes
Sandra CisnerosBrowse related quotes
Salman RushdieBrowse related quotes
Kristen StewartBrowse related quotes
Stephen KingBrowse related quotes
Kanye WestBrowse related quotes