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 More Quotes by Nikki Giovanni More Quotes From Nikki Giovanni There are some things we do simply because the doing is a success. Nikki Giovanni success Black Poetry is not for Black People...it is for everybody Nikki Giovanni black-people black people We just didn't put any pressure on each other, and I think that everybody needs somebody, and I didn't do it to try to do it; it's what we [with Nina Simone] were to each other. Nikki Giovanni trying needs thinking I spend a lot of time learning about bird watching. Nikki Giovanni bird-watching bird I was responding to one thing for the woman I knew, and there's another thing for what did she give, right. She [Nina Simone] was a great teacher. Nikki Giovanni nina teacher giving Ever been kidnapped by a poet if i were a poet i'd kidnap you put you in my phrases and meter. Nikki Giovanni meter phrases poetry I prefer her [Nina Simone's] jazz period much more so than her folk period. Nikki Giovanni nina jazz periods The job of the architect becomes more difficult in this secular age. Where once he had a god to extol, he now has humans like himself; where once he had "he," he now has "she" and "they. Nikki Giovanni architecture age jobs Just as nature abhors a vacuum, humans resist change. Change will occur; vacuums will be filled. Nikki Giovanni filled vacuums change I just think she was a wonderful woman. What I think of when I think of Nina [Simone] is someone that I could relate to, who didn't want anything from me, that could relate to me because I didn't want anything from her. It was nice. Nikki Giovanni nice want thinking A lot of people refuse to do things because they don't want to go naked... . We as black people, we as people, we as the human species have got to get used to the fact we're not going to be right most of the time, not even when our intentions are good. We've got to go naked and see what happens. Nikki Giovanni naked black people Death is a slave's freedom. Nikki Giovanni slavery slave Young people coming up who are having difficulty with their so-called celebrity need to get back into their lives. It's your life and you can't let the fact that you do something pretty good take away the joy of it. Nikki Giovanni joy people needs Nothing is easy to the unwilling. Nikki Giovanni When you are skinning your customers, you should leave some skin on to grow again so that you can skin them again. Nikki Giovanni skin grow your you