Nina Simone Quotes on Music (12 Quotes)

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

You know, I am a doctor of music.

I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.

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

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

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.

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.