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James Weldon Johnson
23 quotes
“Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty. Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies; Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) first seen 1900 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lift Every Voice and Sing, st. 1 (1900).
“We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) first seen 1912 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, ch. 2 (1912).
“Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The glory of the day was in her face, The beauty of the night was in her eyes.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face, st. 1 (1917).
“It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive characteristic.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) first seen 1930 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Black Manhattan, ch. 11 (1930).
“How would you have us, as we are? Or sinking 'neath the load we bear? Our eyes fixed forward on a star? Or gazing empty at despair?”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O black and unknown bards of long ago, How came your lips to touch the sacred fire? How, in your darkness, did you come to know The power and beauty of the minstrels' lyre?”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Whose starward eye Saw chariot “swing low”? And who was he That breathed that comforting, melodic sigh, “Nobody knows de trouble I see”?”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You sang far better than you knew; the songs That for your listeners’ hungry hearts sufficed Still live,—but more than this to you belongs: You sang a race from wood and stone to Christ.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Father, Father Abraham, To-day look on us from above; On us, the offspring of thy faith, The children of thy Christ-like love.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a thing not new, I am as old As human nature. I am that which lurks, Ready to spring whenever a bar is loosed; The ancient trait which fights incessantly Against restraint, balks at the upward climb; The weight forever seeking to obey The law of downward pull;—and I am more: The bitter fruit am I of planted seed; The resultant, the inevitable end Of evil forces and the powers of wrong.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Eternities before the first-born day, Or ere the first sun fledged his wings of flame, Calm Night, the everlasting and the same, A brooding mother over chaos lay.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The glory of the day was in her face, The beauty of the night was in her eyes. And over all her loveliness, the grace Of Morning blushing in the early skies.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And Satan smiled, stretched out his hand, and said,— "O War, of all the scourges of humanity, I crown you chief.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some men enjoy the constant strife Of days with work and worry rife, But that is not my dream of life: I think such men are crazy. For me, a life with worries few, A job of nothing much to do, Just pelf enough to see me through: I fear that I am lazy.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And God stepped out on space, And He looked around and said, "I'm lonely— I'll make me a world.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So God stepped over to the edge of the world And He spat out the seven seas; He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed; He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled; And the waters above the earth came down, The cooling waters came down.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And God smiled again, And the rainbow appeared, And curled itself around his shoulder.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With his head in his hands, God thought and thought, Till he thought: I'll make me a man!”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This Great God, Like a mammy bending over her baby, Kneeled down in the dust Toiling over a lump of clay Till He shaped it in His own image.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Find Sister Caroline... And she's tired— She's weary— Go down, Death, and bring her to me.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Young man—Young man—Your arm’s too short to box with God.”
James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source