Wit & Attitude Quote by Nina Simone

Simone’s line lands like a weary exhale from someone who’d watched America sell its own soul in real time. “Greed has driven the world crazy” isn’t a vague moral complaint; it’s a diagnosis from an artist who saw money, power, and racial hierarchy operating as the same engine. In her era, “crazy” names the disorientation of living in a society that could celebrate Black culture onstage while policing Black bodies off it. Coming from Simone, it’s less sermon than survival report.

The second sentence sharpens the blade. “And I think I’m lucky” reads almost like she’s surprised she’s allowed to say it aloud, as if gratitude has to be smuggled in after the indictment. The phrase “a place over here” is intentionally imprecise, a little guarded. Home is not framed as nation or flag; it’s a physical refuge, a patch of ground where the world’s appetite can’t reach as easily. For Simone, who spent significant years outside the United States after being hounded by racism, industry exploitation, and state pressure, “home” carries the emotional weight of exile and self-protection.

What makes the quote work is the pivot from global madness to intimate shelter. It refuses the fantasy that an artist can “rise above” politics, while also refusing despair. Simone isn’t selling optimism; she’s naming a coping strategy: carve out a sanctuary, claim it, and call that luck in a world organized to deny you even that.