Nikki Giovanni > Quotes

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

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

“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.”
― Nikki Giovanni

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

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

“Ego Tripping

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat's meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can't catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly
like a bird in the sky...”
― Nikki Giovanni

“i hope i die
warmed
by the life that i tried
to live”
― Nikki Giovanni, The Collected Poetry, 1968-1998

“and sometimes I sit
down at my typewriter
and I think
not of someone
cause there isn't anyone
to think
about and i wonder
is it worth 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

“I am so hip even my errors are correct.”
― Nikki Giovanni

“You must be unintimidated by your own thoughts because if you write with someone looking over you shoulder, you'll never write.”
― Nikki Giovanni

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

“Choices

If i can't do
what i want to do
then my job is to not
do what i don't want
to do

It's not the same thing
but it's the best i can
do

If i can't have
what i want . . . then
my job is to want
what i've got
and be satisfied
that at least there
is something more to want

Since i can't go
where i need
to go . . . then i must . . . go
where the signs point
through always understanding
parallel movement
isn't lateral

When i can't express
what i really feel
i practice feeling
what i can express
and none of it is equal

I know
but that's why mankind
alone among the animals
learns to cry”
― Nikki Giovanni

“Nothing is easy to the unwilling.”
― Nikki Giovanni

“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-”
― 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”
― Nikki Giovanni

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

“I always loved English because whatever human beings are, we are storytellers. It is our stories that give a light to the future. When I went to college I became a history major because history is such a wonderful story of who we think we are. English is much more a story of who we really are.”
― 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

“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.”
― Nikki Giovanni

“daddy says the world is
a drum tight and hard
and i told him
i’m gonna beat
out my own rhythm”
― Nikki Giovanni

“Today I am 65 years old. I still look good. I appreciate and enjoy my age. 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. You still bring to bear all your prior experience, but you are riding on another level. It's completely liberating.”
― Nikki Giovanni

“I'm glad I understand that while language is a gift, listening is a responsibility. (U.S. poet and writer, 1943- )”
― Nikki Giovanni

“Style has a profound meaning to Black Americans. If we can’t drive, we will invent walks and the world will envy the dexterity of our feet. If we can’t 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.”
― Nikki Giovanni

“Black love is black wealth”
― Nikki Giovanni

“Allowables

I killed a spider
Not a murderous brown recluse
Nor even a black widow
And if the truth were told this
Was only a small spider
Sort of papery spider
Who should have run
When I picked up the book
But she didn't
And she scared me
And I smashed her

I don't think
I'm allowed

To kill something

Because I am

Frightened.”
― Nikki Giovanni, Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid

“DONT EVER BE AFRAID TO COME TO ME N CRY ...DONT EVER HESITATE TO LOOK ME N THE EYE DONT EVER BE AFRAID TO TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL. REMEMBAER YOUR MY GIRL N WE GOTTA KEEP IT REAL.”
― Nikki Giovanni

“And you will understand all too soon
That you, my children of battle, are your heroes”
― Nikki Giovanni, The Collected Poetry, 1968-1998

“Floating to shore...riding a low moon...on a slow cloud.”
― Nikki Giovanni