Nikki Giovanni Quotes

Language is wild - you can't fence it or tell it what to do - and it's the same with people. Even under the worst excesses of Stalinism or consumerism, the human spirit will still express itself.

If I can feel freedom then I can create.

There are those who dance to the rhythm that is played to them, those who only dance to their own rhythm, and those who don't dance at all.

The mind is not a machine, it is an idea. And the Idea resists all attempts to control it.

Without private thoughts and actions, we can never truly be free.

I've always done everything at my disposal to avoid labeling what I do, or to avoid being labeled myself.

To the extent that independent means you're willing to attempt to put your own ideas, personality, and commitment to the material on screen, then of course I hope I'm independent until the day I die.

If I'm going to go out to be a solo artist, it's because I want to do something different without having to wait on someone else's schedule or hobbies or be limited by other people's prejudices. I'd be kind of stupid not to exercise that.

To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.

I'm not going to conform to some consumer need.

Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system.

You can wear whatever, be whatever, do whatever you want.

It's important to me that I should be free to express myself.

Choosing what you want to do, and when to do it, is an act of creation.

I got tired of depending on other people, and I had this strong desire to make music of my own. I decided to start writing my own tunes and just see what could happen.

When I was younger I was trying to do what I wanted to do, not what the game wanted me to do.

Whenever somebody tells me they want me to stop singing, I'm gone.

I'm going to skate exactly the way I want to, create programs that I like, and everything will fall into place where it is supposed to.

No matter what a man does, he is not fully sane or human unless there is a spirit of freedom in him

No one is going to tell me how I need to think. No one is going to tell me who I can, and cannot, talk to.

If you paint a picture and I paint a picture, we each want to do it our own way. And we'll stand or fall on whatever we did.

I'm used to being told what to say, but not what to think... that's usually left up to me.

No one controlled Frank Sinatra or told him how to sing. No secret group of managers has been telling someone like Jay-Z what to do or how to look. And no one tells me what to do except me and the people who believe in me.

Psychic, illusionist... I'm just doing the things that I find interesting and worthwhile.

I don't like being told what to do, and I don't need to be told what my record should sound like.