Nina simone

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

Desegregation is a joke.

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.

I'm a real rebel with a cause.

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...

To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music.

I think if I were over there in America, protest music would be more important. But I'm not going.

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.

I try to swim every damn day I can, and I've learned to scuba dive and snorkel.

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