Music is the center of my life.
NINA SIMONEEverything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.
More Nina Simone Quotes
-
-
My job is not done. I address my songs now to the third world. I am popular all over Asia and Africa and the Middle East, not to speak of South Africa, where I’m trying to go to see Nelson Mandela.
NINA SIMONE -
If I want to take a particular form of blues somewhere else I have the equipment to do it but I never even thought of it.
NINA SIMONE -
I don’t like drug addicts and she sounds like a cat.
NINA SIMONE -
I try to swim every damn day I can, and I’ve learned to scuba dive and snorkel.
NINA SIMONE -
What kept me sane was knowing that things would change, and it was a question of keeping myself together until they did.
NINA SIMONE -
Theory and harmony broadened my mind in music. I know what music is made of.
NINA SIMONE -
I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I’ve done my whole life, without thought.
NINA SIMONE -
How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?
NINA SIMONE -
I demand perfection in what I do, and I practice very hard before I give a concert-sometimes three to six hours a day.
NINA SIMONE -
My name sounds French but that’s just a stage name.
NINA SIMONE -
I was always a politician from the day the civil rights people chose me as their protest singer.
NINA SIMONE -
It was always Marx, Lenin, and revolution – real girl’s talk.
NINA SIMONE -
I know I’m different, but I don’t think about it.
NINA SIMONE -
When a child is gifted, people try to help that child.
NINA SIMONE -
Once I understood Bach’s music, I wanted to be a concert pianist. Bach made me dedicate my life to music, and it was that teacher who introduced me to his world.
NINA SIMONE