Nina Simone
Nina Simone

It's an artist's duty to reflect the times in which we live.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

I'll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear. I mean really, no fear!

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

To me, we are the most beautiful creatures in the whole world. Black people. And I mean that in every sense.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

I'm a real rebel with a cause.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

Slavery has never been abolished from America's way of thinking.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

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
Nina Simone

Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

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
Nina Simone

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
Nina Simone

Sometimes I sound like gravel, and sometimes I sound like coffee and cream.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

I don't like rap music at all. I don't think it's music. It's just a beat and rapping.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

You get racism crossing the street; it's in the very fabric of American society.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

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
Nina Simone

There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

Greed has driven the world crazy. And I think I'm lucky that I have a place over here that I can call home.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

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.

Nina Simone
Nina Simone

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
Nina Simone

I flirt all the time. I like men! I don't think we can do without them.

Nina Simone
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
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.