I would like you to know, I am a doctor of music.
NINA SIMONEMusic is a gift and a burden I’ve had since I can remember who I was.
More Nina Simone Quotes
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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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Music is an art and art has its own rules.
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Theory and harmony broadened my mind in music. I know what music is made of.
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Greed has driven the world crazy. And I think I’m lucky that I have a place over here that I can call home.
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Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” a song that was written for Simone, she confronted the band’s lead singer, Eric Burdon. “So you’re the honky,” she said, “who stole my song and got a hit out of it?
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You can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.
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From the beginning, it has been a no-no for a black man to touch a white woman.
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You’ve got to learn to leave the table When love’s no longer being served”.
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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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My name sounds French but that’s just a stage name.
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I have a cultured manner of speaking.
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I think the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor. I don’t think the black people are going to rise at all; I think most of them are going to die.
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How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?
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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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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.
NINA SIMONE






