Nikki Giovanni

“and sometimes I sitdown at my typewriterand I thinknot of someonecause there isn't anyoneto thinkabout and i wonderis it worth it”

“the world is not a pleasant place to be without someone to hold and be held by.”

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

“If I could come back as anything - I'd be a bird, first, but definitely the command key is my second choice.”

“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.”

“I spend a lot of time learning about bird watching.”

“and everybody was happy that uncle lee was able to get that scholarship even though you wondered when you could do quadratic equations in your head why you had a basketball scholarship but you always knew that you had to take what they were giving since that was all you were going to get but you never fooled yourself about either the taking or the giving or the needing or the having you just sort of said to yourself I'll have to see what is being offered”

“Writers don't write from experience, although many are hesitant to admit that they don't. ...If you wrote from experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy.”

“We love because it's the only true adventure.”

“I'm told by my young friends that experience is much more important than books. Of course Ben Franklin had something to say about experience and fools, but even Franklin thought that a fool would learn by his experience. That has proven false in the modern world. Some people are simply unwilling to learn under any circumstances, which maybe, even then, wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so damned proud of it.”

“The poet Melvin B. Tolson once said, 'A civilization is judged only in its decline.' That made sense to me. I would imagine the same is true for poets and tennis players.”

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

“Art is not for the cultivated taste. It is to cultivate taste.”

“Some say we are responsible for those we love. Others know we are responsible for those who love us.”

“I had a really nice childhood; I had great parents. I earned my allowance by washing dishes, and in the summer I earned my allowance by working in daddy's garden.”

“I love you because no two snowflakes are alike, and it is possible, if you stand tippy-toe, to walk between the raindrops.”

“Follow your image as far as you can no matter how useless you think it is. Push yourself.”

“Hip-hop is a cultural expression - it's embracing.”

“Everything will change. The only question is growing up or decaying.”

“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.”