Nikki Giovanni

"I love you because no two snowflakes are alike, and it is possible, if you stand tippy-toe, to walk between the raindrops."

"Politics is personal. That, however, doesn’t mean it’s ideological. It means that one cares about what she or he is doing, what he or she is writing…"

"Poets shouldn't commit suicide. That would leave the world to those without imaginations or hearts. That would bequeath to the world a mangled syntax and no love of champagne. Poets must live in miser…"

"the world is not a pleasant place to be without someone to hold and be held by."

"You have to read the poem and say, “My god, that’s a good poem,” and kind of smile at yourself. If you’re not willing to do that, then you’re wasting your time, and you’re hurting yourself in another …"

"History is wonderful. We have so much we can learn if we would quit making ideology out of history, and just deal with what happened…"

"As a writer, one has to be willing to be wrong, willing to make mistakes. I’ve put everything on the table and accepted the fact that I may come up short. And, if I do, that’s okay."