Nina Simone

It's time to take a look at my failures and stop calling them successes. Now I can start working at something that can use me best. - Nina Simone

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

Jazz is not just music, it's a way of life, it's a way of being, a way of thinking. . . . the new inventive phrases we make up to describe things -- all that to me is jazz just as much as the music we play. - Nina Simone

Music is a gift and a burden I've had since I can remember who I was. - Nina Simone

Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing. - Nina Simone