9 Nikki Giovanni Quotes To Light Your Way
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On Dec. 9, 2024, renowned poet, author, and professor Nikki Giovanni passed away after a lengthy battle with lung cancer. She was 81 years old.
Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1943 and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Giovanni studied poetry at Fisk University and Columbia University. She rose to prominence as a leader in the Black Arts movement alongside other prominent literary figures like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin and Audre Lorde.
Throughout her life, Giovanni published more than 40 volumes of prose and poetry, including works for children covering a wide array of subjects including race, hip-hop, love and politics. She was named Distinguished Professor Emerita at Virginia Tech in 2022 after teaching at the university for 35 years and has been awarded 27 honorary degrees throughout her career.
Though she is gone, she will certainly not be forgotten. Giovanni leaves behind a lengthy catalog of not only poems and essays, but countless lectures and speeches that speak to an array of subjects like love, race, politics, hip-hop and self-esteem, all showcasing her wit, humor, and unflinching ability to tell it like it is.
Her works cement her legacy as a writer who revolutionized the way Black people think about themselves and the world, and her words should be remembered and kept close as a reminder of our own inner power and our responsibilities in an ever-changing world.
Nikki Giovanni Quotes
1. “If we don’t like the world we’re living in, change it. And if we can’t change it, we change ourselves. We can do something.” – as told to Claudia Tate in Black Women Writers at Work (1983)
Above all else, Nikki Giovanni was a revolutionary. She believed in Black liberation and equality in America and many of her early works published in the 60’s and 70’s reflected this passion. Giovanni believed her words could change the world and today, her words give us the power to change the world we live in.
2. “I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try.”
Nikki Giovanni began writing at a young age and was in rooms with some of the most prominent voices in Black literature and academia. But what makes Nikki Giovanni the powerhouse poet that she eventually became known to be is her willingness to put her voice out there. And what a blessing that she was willing to try, willing to make mistakes, willing to take a chance on herself. Because now we have her works that encourage and motivate us to do the same.
3. “We prove the human spirit will prevail. We will take what we have to make what we need.” – Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968)
Nikki Giovanni’s work was a love letter to the Black experience. She often wrote of Black joy, Black liberation, and Black style. In this line from her poem, she celebrates how Black Americans are survivors and naturally cool, and the world doesn’t move without Black creativity.
4. “If you don’t understand yourself, you don’t understand anybody else.” in A Dialogue with James Baldwin (1971)
Nikki Giovanni frequently spoke about love in her poems, speeches and conversations. In this famous conversation between herself and fellow writer extraordinaire, James Baldwin, Giovanni expresses the importance of love first coming from within. We must first love and know our own selves before we’re able to properly be in community with others.
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5. “You’re As Good As Anybody Else, You’ve Got A Place Here Too” – from the poem BLK History Month (2002)
In a poem written for Black History Month in 2002, Giovanni expresses how Black Americans are as essential to the planet as the sun and the trees and the rain. These words from that poem express how Black folks should hold our heads up and remember that we deserve to be in any room we walk in.
6. “Deal with yourself as an individual worthy of respect and make everyone else deal with you the same way.”
This popular quote is often attributed to Giovanni and reiterates her consistent message that we must believe we are worthy and live that worthiness from the inside out.
7. “If I can’t have what I want then my job is to want what I’ve got and be satisfied that at least there is something more to want.” – from the poem Choices (1978)
All her life, Nikki Giovanni was a proud Affrilachian, a portmanteau of African American and Appalachian. She didn’t grow up with much and these words from her poem Choices remind us all to be grateful for what we have and to see the blessing in everything.
8. “My job was to be as truthful as I knew how.” – interview with the New York Times (2022)
When asked what she believed her job was and if she felt satisfaction in a job well done, Giovanni responded saying her job was to be truthful. And throughout her career and life, she never shied away from telling the truth about herself, her mistakes, her loves, her beliefs, and her thoughts on the world around her. Truth was her superpower and it’s a power we all possess.
9. “I hope I die warmed by the life I tried to live.” – from The Collected Poetry, 1968-1998
Nikki Giovanni’s words on death teach us how to live. We should live a life in service to others, expressive of ourselves, and full of love of self and connection to others. So we leave behind a legacy that shows all work, all the dreams, all the revolutions, all the effort was worth it. That’s certainly what Nikki Giovanni did.
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