8 Quotes & Sayings By Gil Scottheron

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Gil Scott-Heron was raised in Harlem. He was the youngest of ten children. His mother was a housewife and his father worked as an electrician. He attended Columbia University for his undergraduate degree in music, then attended Harvard University for graduate study in literature Read more

He became a teacher of writing and creative writing at several colleges, including Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.

1
Because I always feel like running Not away, because there is no such place Because if there was, I would have found it by now Because it's easier to run, Easier than staying and finding out you're the only one who didn't run Because running will be the way your life and mine will be described, As in "the long run" Or as in having "given someone a run for his money" Or as in "running out of time" Because running makes me look like everyone else, though I hope there will never be cause for that Because I will be running in the other direction, not running for cover Because if I knew where cover was, I would stay there and never have to run for it Not running for my life, because I have to be running for something of more value to be running and not in fear Because the thing I fear cannot be escaped, eluded, avoided, hidden from, protected from, gotten away from, Not without showing the fear as I see it now Because closer, clearer, no sir, nearer Because of you and because of that nice That you quietly, quickly be causing And because you're going to see me run soon and because you're going to know why I'm running then You'll know then Because I'm not going to tell you now . Gil ScottHeron
2
It may be crazy, but I'm the closest thing I have to a voice of reason. Gil ScottHeron
3
Man is a complex being: he makes deserts bloom - and lakes die. Gil ScottHeron
4
All the dreams you show up in are not your own. Gil ScottHeron
5
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. Gil ScottHeron
6
I have a novel that I can write. It's about three soldiers from Somalia. Some babies have been disappearing up on 144th Street, and I speculate later on what happened to them and how they might have been got back. These guys are dead, all three, and they have a chance in the afterlife to do something they should have done when they were alive. Gil ScottHeron
7
Everything that's bad for you catches on too quickly in America, because that's the easiest thing to get people to invest in, the pursuits that are easy and destructive, the ones that bring out the least positive aspects of people. Gil ScottHeron