It is difficult to retain your standards with the pressure of trying to make money, which always has its rules. It’s hard to walk the tightrope of doing what you think is your best and making money at it.
NINA SIMONEBirds flying high you know how I feel Sun in the sky you know how I feel Breeze driftin’ on by you know how I feel And this old world is a new world And a bold world For me And I’m feeling good I’m feeling good.
More Nina Simone Quotes
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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.
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I was always a politician from the day the civil rights people chose me as their protest singer.
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I love the classics but there are many new ideas to be made into reality. I’d rather be concerned with my own thing. There are many masters of classical piano so I’ll leave it to them.
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It’s logical that people from bad times will reflect their feelings in their communication. Music is part of the communication. If you lived it, you can do it.
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I know I’m different, but I don’t think about it.
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To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that’s not what I play. I play black classical music.
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I had heard blues and jazz all my life but I was never aware that it was associated with nightclubs and drinking.
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Desegregation is a joke.
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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.
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There’s no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.
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I try to swim every damn day I can, and I’ve learned to scuba dive and snorkel.
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It doesn’t matter to me what is going on today because my music encompasses every kind of mood that exists in human beings. That’s my stick.
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Music is one of the ways by which you can know everything which is going on in the world. You can feel through music. Whew you can feel the vibrations of everybody in the world at any given moment.
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I look forward to doing my own show, not someone else’s. That’s always been my dream.
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Music is an art and art has its own rules.
NINA SIMONE






