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Langston Hughes
42 quotes
“I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I, Too", in the magazine Survey Graphic (March 1925); reprinted in Selected Poems (1959); it is also often referred to as "I, Too, Sing America
“They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed — I, too, am America.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I, Too", in the magazine Survey Graphic (March 1925); reprinted in Selected Poems (1959)
“The night is beautiful, So are the faces of my people.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My People", in the magazine Poems in Crisis (October 1923); reprinted in The Weary Blues (1926)
“I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Negro Speaks of Rivers", written in 1920, published in The Weary Blues (1926)
“I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1926 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Negro Speaks of Rivers", The Weary Blues (1926)
“The stars went out and so did the moon. The singer stopped playing and went to bed While the Weary Blues echoed through his head. He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1926 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Weary Blues ", in The Weary Blues (1926)
“Way Down South in Dixie (Break the heart of me) They hung my black young lover To a cross roads tree.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1927 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Song for a Dark Girl" (l. 1-4), from Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927)
“Love is a naked shadow On a gnarled and naked tree.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1927 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Song for a Dark Girl" (l. 11-12), from Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927)
“While over Alabama earth These words are gently spoken: Serve — and hate will die unborn. Love — and chains are broken.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Alabama Earth (at Booker Washington's grave)," from the anthology Golden Slippers: An Anthology of Negro Poetry for Young Readers (1941), ed. Arna Bontemps
“Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1941 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dreams," from the anthology Golden Slippers: An Anthology of Negro Poetry for Young Readers, ed. Arna Bontemps (1941)
“I was so sick last night I Didn't hardly know my mind. So sick last night I Didn't know my mind. I drunk some bad licker that Almost made me blind.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1942 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Morning After," (l. 1-6), from Shakespeare in Harlem (1942)
“I swear to the Lord I still can't see Why Democracy means Everybody but me.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1943 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Black Man Speaks," from Jim Crow's Last Stand (1943)
“Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Note on Humor", from The Book of Negro Humor, p. vii (1966)
“If I were marooned on a desert island...I would miss...Jackie Ormes's cute drawings”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Goldstein, Nancy, Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist (2008)
“Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed — Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek — And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay — Except the dream that's almost dead today.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O, let America be America again — The land that never has been yet — And yet must be — the land where every man is free.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sure, call me any ugly name you choose — The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America!”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath — America will be!”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers, The mountains and the endless plain — All, all the stretch of these great green states — And make America again!”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You see, unfortunately, I am not black. There are lots of different kinds of blood in our family. But here in the United States, the word “Negro” is used to mean anyone who has any Negro blood at all in his veins. In Africa, the word is more pure. It means all Negro, therefore black. I am brown. My father was a darker brown. My mother an olive-yellow.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, V. 13, The Big Sea (2002), p. 36
“For poems are like rainbows; they escape you quickly.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My motto, As I live and learn, is: Dig And Be Dug In Return.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you turn the corner And you run into yourself Then you know that you have turned All the corners that are left.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Good evening, daddy I know you’ve heard The boogie-woogie rumble Of a dream deferred”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why should it be my loneliness, Why should it be my song, Why should it be my dream deferred overlong?”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What happens to a dream deferred? Daddy, ain’t you heard?”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What happens to a dream deferred?Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore — And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over — like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.Or does it explode?”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There’s a certain amount of traveling in a dream deferred.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A certain amount of nothing in a dream deferred.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Daddy, daddy, daddy, All I want is you. You can have me, baby — but my lovin’ days is through. A certain amount of impotence in a dream deferred.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You talk like they don’t kick dreams around downtown.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Democracy will not come Today, this year Nor ever Through compromise and fear.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I tire so of hearing people say, Let things take their course. Tomorrow is another day. I do not need my freedom when I’m dead. I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dream within a dream, Our dream deferred. Good morning, daddy! Ain’t you heard?”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The instructor said, Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you — Then, it will be true.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life. I like a pipe for a Christmas present, or records — Bessie, bop, or Bach. I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like the same things other folks like who are other races.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You are white — yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. That’s American. Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you. But we are, that’s true! As I learn from you, I guess you learn from me — although you’re older — and white — and somewhat more free.”
Langston Hughes (1901–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source