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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. "
Nina Simone
Rise
Rich
People
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" All the time, there was the weight of my community's expectations on my shoulders. "
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" Sometimes I sound like gravel, and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream. "
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" My daughter is in more competition with me. I never wanted to be bigger than my mother or to challenge her. "
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" The protest years were over, not just for me but for a whole generation, and in music, just like in politics, many of the greatest talents were dead or in exile, and their place was filled by third-rate imitators. "
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" I have to be composed; I have to be poised. I have to remember what my first piano teacher told me: 'You do not touch that piano until you are ready and until they are ready to listen to you. "
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" Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music. "
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Black
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" I think that the artists who don't get involved in preaching messages probably are happier - but you see, I have to live with Nina, and that is very difficult. "
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" Did you know that the human voice is the only pure instrument? That it has notes no other instrument has? It's like being between the keys of a piano. The notes are there, you can sing them, but they can't be found on any instrument. That's like me. I live in between this. I live in both worlds, the black and white world. "
Nina Simone
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" I wasn't a jazz player, but a classical musician, and I improvised arrangements of popular songs using classical motifs. "
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Player
" I would like a man now who is rich, and who can give me a boat - a sailboat. I want to own it and let him pay for it. My first love is the sea and water, not music. Music is second. "
Nina Simone
Man
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Music
" I'm not a blues singer, I'm a diva. "
Nina Simone
Singer
Diva
Blues
" You feel the shame, humiliation, and anger at being just another victim of prejudice, and at the same time, there's the nagging worry that maybe... you're just no good. "
Nina Simone
You
Worry
Time
" To me, we are the most beautiful creatures in the whole world. Black people. And I mean that in every sense. "
Nina Simone
Me
World
People
" 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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World
Think
Home
" You get racism crossing the street; it's in the very fabric of American society. "
Nina Simone
American
Society
Street
" 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
Freedom
Important
Music
" I'll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear. I mean really, no fear! "
Nina Simone
Freedom
No Fear
Mean
" I'm a real rebel with a cause. "
Nina Simone
Rebel
Cause
Real
" At this crucial time in our lives, when everything is so desperate, when every day is a matter of survival, I don't think you can help but be involved. "
Nina Simone
Think
You
Day
" 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
Play
White
Black
" As a political weapon, it has helped me for 30 years defend the rights of American blacks and third-world people all over the world, to defend them with protest songs. To move the audience to make them conscious of what has been done to my people around the world. "
Nina Simone
People
World
American
" It's an artist's duty to reflect the times in which we live. "
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Live
Which
Artist
" I flirt all the time. I like men! I don't think we can do without them. "
Nina Simone
Think
Like
Men
" 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
Life
Teacher
My Life
" When I was studying... there weren't any black concert pianists. My choices were intuitive, and I had the technique to do it. People have heard my music and heard the classic in it, so I have become known as a black classical pianist. "
Nina Simone
Music
Choices
Black
" When I'm on that stage, I assume honor. I assume compensation, and I should. "
Nina Simone
Stage
Compensation
Assume
" I try to swim every damn day I can, and I've learned to scuba dive and snorkel. "
Nina Simone
Damn
Day
Dive
" I think if I were over there in America, protest music would be more important. But I'm not going. "
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Over
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" I think the rich will eventually have to cave in too, because the economic situation around the world is not gonna tolerate the United States being on top forever. "
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Think
World
Top
" I don't like rap music at all. I don't think it's music. It's just a beat and rapping. "
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Like
Beat
Think