1. “I know I’m different, but I don’t think about it.” ― Nina Simone
2. “Having as little to do with human beings as possible – in some weird way, I’m at peace.” ― Nina Simone
3. “I think that the artists who don’t get involved in preaching messages probably are happier – but you see, I have to live with Nina, and that is very difficult.” ― Nina Simone
4. “It’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times in which we live.” ― Nina Simone
5. “You have to learn to get up from the table when love is no longer being served.” ― Nina Simone
6. “To me, we are the most beautiful creatures in the whole world. Black people. And I mean that in every sense.” ― Nina Simone
7. “You don’t have to live next to me / Just give me my equality.” ― Nina Simone
8. “Sometimes I sound like gravel, and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream.” ― Nina Simone
9. “I drink much more that I ought to drink because it brings me back you.” ― Nina Simone
10. “I didn’t get interested in music. It was a gift from God.” ― Nina Simone
11. “I had spent many years pursuing excellence, because that is what classical music is all about… Now it was dedicated to freedom, and that was far more important.” ― Nina Simone
12. “What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.” ― Nina Simone
13. “I’m just human, I have faults like anyone.” ― Nina Simone
14. “I’ll tell you what freedom is to me. No fear!” ― Nina Simone
15. “Slavery has never been abolished from America’s way of thinking.” ― Nina Simone
16. “You use up everything you’ve got trying to give everybody what they want.” ― Nina Simone
17. “This is the world you have made yourself, now you have to live in it.” ― Nina Simone
18. “I want to shake people up so bad, that when they leave a nightclub where I’ve performed, I just want them to be to pieces.” ― Nina Simone
19. “How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it?” ― Nina Simone
20. “Greed has driven the world crazy. And I think I’m lucky that I have a place over here that I can call home.” ― Nina Simone
21. “I feel what they feel. And people who listen to me know that, and it makes them feel like they’re not alone.” ― Nina Simone
22. “There’s no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.” ― Nina Simone
23. “Life is short. People are not easy to know. They’re not easy to know, so if you don’t tell them how you feel, you’re not going to get anywhere, I feel.” ― Nina Simone
24. “What is love but a prelude to sorrow…with heartache ahead for your goal.” ― Nina Simone
25. “What is love but a prelude to sorrow… with heartache ahead for your goal.” ― Nina Simone
26. “There’s no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were” – Nina Simone
27. “You don’t know what it’s like to love somebody the way I love you.” ― Nina Simone
28. “I’ll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.” ― Nina Simone
29. “I have to constantly re-identify myself to myself, reactivate my own standards, my own convictions about what I’m doing and why.” ― Nina Simone
30. “I am not the doctor to cure it. All I can do is expose the sickness.” ― Nina Simone
31. “You’ve got to learn to leave the table when love’s no longer being served.” ― Nina Simone
32. “I was always a politician from the day the civil rights people chose me as their protest singer.” ― Nina Simone
33. “At this crucial time in our lives, when everything is so desperate, when every day is a matter of survival, I don’t think you can help but be involved.” ― Nina Simone
34. “I feel what they feel. And people who listen to me know that, and it makes them feel like they’re not alone.” ― Nina Simone
35. “All the time, there was the weight of my community’s expectations on my shoulders.” ― Nina Simone
