Gil Scott-Heron Quotes

I learnt early on that your audience take the songs in the way they want to rather than the way you might want them too.

I was one of the first three black students to go to an all-white school in Tennessee.

Man is a complex being: he makes deserts bloom – and lakes die.

I was born in Chicago, but I was raised in a town called Jackson, Tennessee. And a lot of these changes that were necessary and talked about it as important have been made, like, people go to school where they want to go. They work for equal pay, they work for – they can go school and have an equal shot at a job.

I would say if you are familiar with our history and the history of our art and literature that you see a clear cut pattern of people wanting to contribute, not only artistically, but in some practical purpose, for the benefits of the community.

You know what has made me the happiest I’ve ever been? Seeing my son and daughter graduate from college. More than wanting them to be educated, I wanted them to be nice people. To see that they have become both is just a wonderful thing.

The revolution will be no re-run brothers, The revolution will be live.

All the dreams you show up in are not your own.

I was a piano player before I was a poet.

The truth is that in this country you here you’re more likely to be harassed, hurt, or killed if you’re a minister speaking about progress for Black people than if you are a sure enough revolutionary.

I don’t suspect that in many instances the artists who are dedicated in that fashion to the progress of that community are as well protected by the community as might be necessary.

America .. the international Jekyll and Hyde … the land of a thousand disguises, sneaks up on you but rarely surprises