[To write poems] I think it's important to do research, and research mostly is going to come from books, so all of your reading is potentially helpful to your poetry. Nikki Giovanni More Quotes by Nikki Giovanni More Quotes From Nikki Giovanni You must be unintimidated by your own thoughts. Nikki Giovanni We are better than we think and not yet what we want to be. Nikki Giovanni want thinking I'm glad I understand that while language is a gift, listening is a responsibility. (U.S. poet and writer, 1943- ) Nikki Giovanni learning responsibility listening We [Black people] have always used our creativity to battle and we're not the only ones. Black Americans are certainly leaders in that simply because we were denied education and dealt with enforced illiteracy. But people seem to always forget that literacy is not the only way of learning things or conveying knowledge. Nikki Giovanni creativity leader people If you are sitting there waiting for someone to tell you how wonderful you are, you'll never get anything done. Women need to get over being women. I'm tired of that socialization of women; that we are always supposed to be sitting around pleasing somebody. Nikki Giovanni tired waiting needs It's not a ladder we're climbing, it's literature we're producing. . . . We cannot possibly leave it to history as a discipline nor to sociology nor science nor economics to tell the story of our people. Nikki Giovanni climbing discipline people We write because we believe the human spirit cannot be tamed and should not be trained. Nikki Giovanni spirit writing believe No one needs to teach you to be mean; we need to be taught to be kind. Nikki Giovanni be-kind mean needs I am a huge fan of the Black woman. I never hesitate to recommend her when times are bad or things go wrong. Nikki Giovanni black-women black fans Poetry is the most informative of all of the arts because everything comes down to poetry. No matter what it is we are describing, ultimately we use either a metaphor; or we say "that's poetry in motion." You drink a glass of wine and say, "that's poetry in a bottle." Everything is poetry, so I think we come down to emotional information. And that's what poetry conveys. Nikki Giovanni emotional wine art You do what you can with what you have. You have to work the edges whatever they are. The main thing is keeping your integrity. Nikki Giovanni edges integrity Follow your image as far as you can no matter how useless you think it is. Push yourself. Nikki Giovanni useless matter thinking 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 light college thinking Daddy says the world is a drum tight and hard and I told him I'm gonna beat out my own rhythm. Nikki Giovanni daddy beats world Rage is to writers what water is to fish. Nikki Giovanni rage anger water the world is not a pleasant place to be without someone to hold and be held by. Nikki Giovanni pleasant world you know a person is having a severe personality crisis if you see a high school class ring on a finger beyond the first semester in college. Male or female. It's a big sign saying nothing has mattered to my life since senior year. Nikki Giovanni senior college school Black love is black wealth Nikki Giovanni black-love black love-is 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 i-like-you people way There is no such thing as writer's block. There is only not enough information. If you can't write, learn something. Nikki Giovanni information block writing
