Favorite poems are like favorite children. We definitely have them but we never tell as the others would have their feelings hurt.
Nikki GiovanniRead
We write because we believe the human spirit cannot be tamed and should not be trained.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses the belief that artistic expression is a fundamental aspect of human nature that should remain wild and free.
Nikki Giovanni's quote emphasizes the importance of the unbridled nature of human creativity and the spirit. It suggests that writing, as a form of art, should not be constrained by conventions or societal expectations, allowing for authenticity and personal truth to emerge in the creative process.
Themes
WritingCreativityHuman SpiritArtistic Expression
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of free expression in art.
More from Nikki Giovanni
All quotes βI want to be clear about this. If you wrote from experience, you'd get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy.
Nikki GiovanniRead
A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it.
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Art is not for the cultivated taste. It is to cultivate taste.
Nikki GiovanniRead
Style has a profound meaning to Black Americans. If we canβt drive, we will invent walks and the world will envy the dexterity of our feet. If we canβt have ham, we will boil chitterlings; if we are given rotten peaches, we will make cobblers; if given scraps, we will make quilts; take away our drums, and we will clap our hands. We prove the human spirit will prevail. We will take what we have to make what we need. We need confidence in our knowledge of who we are.
Nikki GiovanniRead
If you were a pure bolt of fire-cutting the skies I'd touch you-risking my life-not because I'm brave or strong, but because I'm fascinated by what the outcome would be.
Nikki GiovanniRead
Similar quotes
My goal is to live the truly religious life, and express it in my music. If you live it, when you play there's no problem because the music is part of the whole thing. To be a musician is really something. It goes very, very deep. My music is the spiritual expression of what I am - my faith, my knowledge, my being.
John ColtraneRead
Because every book of art, be it a poem or a cupola, is understandably a self-portrait of its author, we won't strain ourselves too hard trying to distinguish between the author's persona and the poem's lyrical hero. As a rule, such distinctions are quite meaningless, if only because a lyrical hero is invariably an author's self-projection.
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I do - very specifically, I remember Bessie Smith; I used to collect 78 records that I would buy from the St Vincent de Paul store at five cents apiece, and I did this indiscriminately. I would just take whatever was there. And I listened to Patti Page and Walter Huston, 'September Song.'
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For some of us, good books and beautiful writing are our ultimate solace, even more comforting than exquisite food.
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Poetry is not only a set of words which are chosen to relate to each other; it is something which goes much further than that to provide a glimpse of our vision of the world.
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But, after all, the aim of art is to create space - space that is not compromised by decoration or illustration, space within which the subjects of painting can live.
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