Nina Simone > Quotes

“You've got to learn to leave the table
When love's no longer being served".”
― nina simone

“You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.”
― Nina Simone

“What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.”
― Nina Simone, I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone

“Life is short. People are not easy to know. They're not easy to know, so if you don't tell them how you feel, you're not going to get anywhere, I feel.”
― Nina Simone

“I'll tell you what Freedom is to me. No fear.”
― Nina Simone

“It was always Marx, Lenin, and revolution - real girl's talk.”
― Nina Simone, I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone

“There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were”
― Nina Simone

“I am just one of the people who is sick of the social order, sick of the establishment, sick to my soul of it all. To me, America’s society is nothing but a cancer, and it must be exposed before it can be cured. I am not the doctor to cure it. All I can do is expose the sickness.”
― Nina Simone

“You have to learn to get up from the table when love is no longer being served.”
― Nina Simone

“This is the world you have made yourself, now you have to live in it.”
― Nina Simone, I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone

“I have to constantly re-identify myself to myself, reactivate my own standards, my own convictions about what I'm doing and why.”
― Nina Simone

“You don't have to live next to me / Just give me my equality.”
― Nina Simone

“Having as little to do with human beings as possible - in some weird way, I'm at peace.”
― Nina Simone

“To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music.”
― Nina Simone

“The people that built their heaven on your land are telling you yours is in the sky”
― Nina Simone

“Greed has driven the world crazy. And I think I'm lucky that I have a place over here that I can call home.”
― Nina Simone

“It is an artist's duty to reflect the times.”
― Nina Simone

“Cause your mama's name was lonely, and your daddy's name was pain. And they called you little sorrow, cus you'll never love again. You ain't got no one to hold you. You ain't got no one to care. if you'd only understand it. nobody wants you anywhere.”
― Nina Simone

“Sometimes I sound like gravel and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream.”
― Nina Simone

“I came to expect despair every time I set foot in my own country, and I was never disappointed.”
― Nina Simone

“You use up everything you've got trying to give everybody what they want.”
― Nina Simone, The Analog Sea Review: Number Two

“Nina Simone Feeling Good

Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel


It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
Blossom on the tree you know how I feel




Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done
That's what I mean

And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel”
― Nina Simone

“They don't know that I'm dead, and my ghost is holding on.”
― Nina Simone

“Talent is a burden not a joy. I am not of this planet. I do not come from you. I am not like you.”
― Nina Simone

“Ain't Got No/i Got Life

I ain't got no home, ain't got no shoes
Ain't got no money, ain't got no class
Ain't got no skirts, ain't got no sweater
Ain't got no perfume, ain't got no beer
Ain't got no man

Ain't got no mother, ain't got no culture
Ain't got no friends, ain't got no schooling
Ain't got no love, ain't got no name
Ain't got no ticket, ain't got no token
Ain't got no God

Then what have I got
Why am I alive anyway?
Yeah, what have I got
Nobody can take away

Got my hair, got my head
Got my brains, got my ears
Got my eyes, got my nose
Got my mouth, I got my smile

I got my tongue, got my chin
Got my neck, got my boobs
Got my heart, got my soul
Got my back, I got my sex

I got my arms, got my hands
Got my fingers, got my legs
Got my feet, got my toes
Got my liver, got my blood

I've got life
I've got my freedom
I've got life

I've got life
And I'm gonna keep it
I've got life
And nobody's gonna take it away”
― Nina Simone

“It is a fact that I don’t get enough love, I never did get enough love,”
― Nina Simone

“Don'tcha know that no one alive can always be an angel?
When everything goes wrong, you see some bad
But oh, I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood”
― Nina Simone

“Lilac Wine"

I lost myself on a cool damp night
Gave myself in that misty light
Was hypnotized by a strange delight
Under a lilac tree
I made wine from the lilac tree
Put my heart in its recipe
It makes me see what I want to see...
And be what I want to be
When I think more than I want to think
Do things I never should do
I drink much more that I ought to drink
Because I brings me back you...

Lilac wine is sweet and heady, like my love
Lilac wine, I feel unsteady, like my love
Listen to me... I cannot see clearly
Isn't that she coming to me nearly here?

Lilac wine is sweet and heady where's my love?
Lilac wine, I feel unsteady, where's my love?

Listen to me, why is everything so hazy?
Isn't that she, or am I just going crazy, dear?

Lilac Wine, I feel unready for my love...”
― Nina Simone

“Wild Is The Wind"

Love me, love me, love me, say you do
Let me fly away with you
For my love is like the wind
And wild is the wind

Give me more than one caress
Satisfy this hungriness
Let the wind blow through your heart
For wild is the wind

You touch me
I hear the sound of mandolins
You kiss me
With your kiss my life begins
You're spring to me
All things to me

Don't you know you're life itself
Like a leaf clings to a tree
Oh my darling, cling to me
For we're creatures of the wind
And wild is the wind
So wild is the wind

You touch me
I hear the sound of mandolins
You kiss me
With your kiss my life begins
Dady, you're spring to me
All things to me

Don't you know you're life itself
Like a leaf clings to a tree
Oh my darling, cling to me
For we're creatures of the wind
And wild is the wind
So wild is the wind

Wild is the wind
Wild is the wind
Wild is the wind”
― Nina Simone

“Once I understood Bach's music, I wanted to be a concert pianist. Bach made me dedicate my life to music, and it was that teacher who introduced me to his world.”
― Nina Simone