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41 " Don't want to be near you for the thoughts we share but the words we never have to speak. "
― Nikki Giovanni
42 " I am so hip even my errors are correct "
43 " Deal with yourself as a individual, worthy of respect and make everyone else deal with you the same way. "
44 " 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- "
45 " ChoicesIf i can't dowhat i want to dothen my job is to notdo what i don't wantto doIt's not the same thingbut it's the best i candoIf i can't havewhat i want . . . thenmy job is to wantwhat i've gotand be satisfiedthat at least thereis something more to wantSince i can't gowhere i needto go . . . then i must . . . gowhere the signs pointthrough always understandingparallel movementisn't lateralWhen i can't expresswhat i really feeli practice feelingwhat i can expressand none of it is equalI knowbut that's why mankindalone among the animalslearns to cry "
46 " A lot of people refuse to do things because they don't want to go naked, don't want to go without guarantee. But that's what's got to happen. You go naked until you die "
47 " 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. "
48 " If you don't understand yourself you don't understand anybody else. "
49 " daddy says the world is a drum tight and hardand i told himi’m gonna beat out my own rhythm "
50 " I'm glad I understand that while language is a gift, listening is a responsibility. (U.S. poet and writer, 1943- ) "
51 " Black love is black wealth "
52 " DONT EVER BE AFRAID TO COME TO ME N CRY ...DONT EVER HESITATE TO LOOK ME N THE EYE DONT EVER BE AFRAID TO TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL. REMEMBAER YOUR MY GIRL N WE GOTTA KEEP IT REAL. "
53 " And you will understand all too soonThat you, my children of battle, are your heroes "
― Nikki Giovanni , The Collected Poetry, 1968-1998
54 " Floating to shore...riding a low moon...on a slow cloud. "
55 " AllowablesI killed a spiderNot a murderous brown recluseNor even a black widowAnd if the truth were told thisWas only a small spiderSort of papery spiderWho should have runWhen I picked up the bookBut she didn'tAnd she scared meAnd I smashed herI don't thinkI'm allowedTo kill somethingBecause I amFrightened. "
― Nikki Giovanni , Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid
56 " I grow old though pleased with my memoriesThe tasks I can no longer completeAre balanced by the love of the tasks gone pastI offer no apology onlythis plea: When I am frayed and strained and drizzle at the endPlease someone cut a square and put me in a quiltThat I might keep some child warmAnd some old person with no one else to talk toWill hear my whispersAnd cuddlenear "
57 " VISIBILITY - You've got to find a way to make people know you're there "
58 " i wanted to take your hand and run with you together toward ourselves down the street to your street i wanted to laugh aloud and skip the notes past the marquee advertising “women in love” past the record shop with “The Spirit In The Dark” past the smoke shop past the park and no parking today signs past the people watching me in my blue velvet and i don’t remember what you wore but only that i didn’t want anything to be wearing you i wanted to give myself to the cyclone that is your arms and let you in the eye of my hurricane and know the calm before and some fall evening after the cocktails and the very expensive and very bad steak served with day-old baked potatoes after the second cup of coffee taken while listening to the rejected violin player maybe some fall evening when the taxis have passed you by and that light sort of rain that occasionally falls in new york begins you’ll take a thought and laugh aloud the notes carrying all the way over to me and we’ll run again together toward each other yes? "
59 " Deal with yourself as an individual worthy of respect, and make everyone else deal with you the same way. "
60 " We are all more than our experiencesAnd less than our dreams~ from "I Am Glass "
― Nikki Giovanni , Bicycles