Nikki Giovanni

“The things I really want to say are things that I have been beaten into silence for.”

“You must be unintimidated by your own thoughts because if you write with someone looking over your shoulder, you'll never write.”

“I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try.”

“Deal with the world as it is, not as you'd like it to be.”

“Sometimes the only way you can get a message across is to be a bit of a bitch.”

“I hope I die warmed by the life that I tried to live.”

“If I can't do what I want to do, then my job is to not do what I don't want to do.”

“We love because it's the only true adventure.”

“I am a writer. I'm a storyteller. I'm a poet.”

“Style is a dirty word. I prefer passion.”

“Art is not for the cultivated appreciative few. Art is for the masses.”

“I am totally fascinated by people and I am not scared of them.”

“Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts.”

“If you don't understand yourself you don't understand anybody else.”

“Writing is a conversation with the world.”

“There's a reason that we say 'you are what you eat,' and I'd say you are what you read.”

“A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is.”

“Poetry is the songs of our souls.”

“Black love is black wealth.”