Nina Simone Quotations

There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.

I think the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor. I don't think the black people are going to rise at all; I think most of them are going to die.

I think the rich will eventually have to cave in too, because the economic situation around the world is not gonna tolerate the United States being on top forever.

Slavery has never been abolished from America's way of thinking.

I try to swim every damn day I can, and I've learned to scuba dive and snorkel.

The worst thing about that kind of prejudice... is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it, it feeds you self-doubt. You start thinking, perhaps I am not good enough.

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

I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about... Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.

I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat - a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second.

Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.

When I was studying... there weren't any black concert pianists. My choices were intuitive, and I had the technique to do it. People have heard my music and heard the classic in it, so I have become known as a black classical pianist.

I think if I were over there in America, protest music would be more important. But I'm not going.

From the beginning, it has been a no-no for a black man to touch a white woman.

I don't like rap music at all. I don't think it's music. It's just a beat and rapping.

This may be a dream, but I'll say it anyway: I was supposed to be married last year, and I bought a gown. When I meet Nelson Mandela, I shall put on this gown and have the train of it removed and put aside, and kiss the ground that he walks on and then kiss his feet.

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.

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

I had a very intensive love affair from 1994 to 1995. It was like a volcano, so I don't want that anymore for a while.

I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat-a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second.

You know, I am a doctor of music.

Every person I ever met who heard her sing could remember what they wore and what she wore (on that occasion).

Before she died we were able to laugh and chuckle about a lot of things.

I am particular about the seating of the audience-also about how much money they pay-but most of all where they are seated. If I am going to sing something intimate, who am I going to sing it to?

It was always Marx, Lenin, and revolution - real girl's talk.

Since I was three I've been playing the piano. I've been onstage.

Since I was three I've been playing the piano. I've been onstage. My mother is an Evangelist and I used to play the piano at her revival meetings.

I don't like to go to strange places.

My job is not done. I address my songs now to the third world. I am popular all over Asia and Africa and the Middle East, not to speak of South Africa, where I'm trying to go to see Nelson Mandela.

Desegregation is a joke.

I look forward to doing my own show, not someone else's. That's always been my dream.

I play piano, by ear. Yes, I write songs... and good ones.

I would like you to know, I am a doctor of music.

I don't like to go to strange places. I was in Italy for about five hours on my way to Africa.

Music is a gift and a burden I've had since I can remember who I was.

I demand perfection in what I do, and I practice very hard before I give a concert-sometimes three to six hours a day.

I don't like drug addicts and she sounds like a cat.

The allusion was that I was actually naked. I loved that. It always, kind of shocked people enough that they became mine immediately.

I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I've done my whole life, without thought.

I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.

How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?

That is why we fly from the inner void, since God might steal into it. It is not the pursuit of pleasure and the aversion for effort which causes sin, but fear of God. We know that we cannot see him face to face without dying, and we do not want to die.

It's time to take a look at my failures and stop calling them successes. Now I can start working at something that can use me best.

Music has been a burden and a joy for as long as I can remember.

What is love but a prelude to sorrow...with heartache ahead for your goal.

Every day has its emotional difficulties. I miss my mother whether I'm singing her music or not.

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," a song that was written for Simone, she confronted the band's lead singer, Eric Burdon. "So you're the honky," she said, "who stole my song and got a hit out of it?

I am particular about the seating of the audience - also about how much money they pay - but most of all where they are seated. If I am going to sing something intimate, who am I going to sing it to?

I applied for a scholarship to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. I knew I was good enough, but they turned me down. And it took me about six months to realize it was because I was black. I never really got over that jolt of racism at the time.

I'm sorry that I did not become the world's first black classic pianist. I think I would have been happier.

There's no excuse for the young...

Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.

I was always a politician from the day the civil rights people chose me as their protest singer.

It's a good time for black people to be alive.

I'm just human, I have faults like anyone

To be young, gifted and black!

I feel what they feel. And people who listen to me know that, and it makes them feel like they're not alone.

I feel more alive now than I ever have in my life. I have a chance to live, as I've dreamed.

I'm a real rebel with a cause.

You don't have to live next to me / Just give me my equality.

Jazz is not just music, it's a way of life, it's a way of being, a way of thinking.

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

It's a new dawn, it's a new day...and I'm feeling good.

This is the world you have made yourself, now you have to live in it.

Talent is a burden not a joy. I am not of this planet. I do not come from you. I am not like you.

You have to learn to get up from the table when love is not being served.

I do not believe in mixing of the races. You can quote me. I don't believe in it, and I never have. I've never changed. I've never changed my hair. I've never changed my color, I have always been proud of myself, and my fans are proud of me for remaining the way I've always been. I married a white man one time, but he was a creep

My love is like the wind and wild is the wind. Give me more than one caress, satisfy my hungriness. Let the wind blow through your heart for wild is the wind.

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it

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 And this old world is a new world And a bold world For me And I'm feeling good I'm feeling good

What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.

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.

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

I tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.

You've got to learn to leave the table When love's no longer being served".