black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

Talent is a burden not a joy. I am not of this planet. I do not come from you. I am not like you.

Nina Simone

To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that’s not what I play. I play black classical music.
NINA SIMONE

Music Myself People Play
I don’t like to go to strange places. I was in Italy for about five hours on my way to Africa.
NINA SIMONE

Myself Place Strange Time Travel
Since I was three I’ve been playing the piano. I’ve been onstage.
NINA SIMONE

Instrument Myself Play
Tomorrow, I might be in a different mood and you wouldn’t recognize my voice.
NINA SIMONE

Different Identity Myself Recognition Voice
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

Easy Feeling Life Myself People
The worst thing about that kind of prejudice is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it, it feeds you self-doubt. You start thinking, perhaps I am not good enough.
NINA SIMONE

Angry Enough Kind Prejudice Worst Yourself
I made wine from the lilac tree/Put my heart in its recipe/It makes me see what I want to see/And be what I want to be.
NINA SIMONE

Myself See Tree Wine
I’m just human, I have faults like anyone.
NINA SIMONE

Human Mistake Myself
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

Dedication Excellence Freedom Music Myself Pursue
I had heard blues and jazz all my life but I was never aware that it was associated with nightclubs and drinking.
NINA SIMONE

Assosiation Awareness Drinking Life Music
I tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.
NINA SIMONE

Fear Freedom Myself
Theory and harmony broadened my mind in music. I know what music is made of.
NINA SIMONE

Mindset Music Myself Theory
Music is the center of my life.
NINA SIMONE

Life Music One Liner
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

Explanation Expression Feeling Poetry Soul Stage Yourself
There’s no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.
NINA SIMONE

Excuse Hero Known People Young
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

Day Demand Myself Perfection Practice

Talent is a burden not a joy. I am not of this planet. I do not come from you. I am not like you.

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Talent is a burden not a joy. I am not of this planet. I do not come from you. I am not like you.

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Popular Authors

More Nina Simone Quotes