Langston Hughes Quotes
Sometimes a crumb falls From the tables of joy, Sometimes a bone Is flung. To some people Love is given, To others Only heaven.
Good morning, daddy! Ain't you heard The boogie-woogie rumble Of a dream deferred? • • • • You think It's a happy beat?
I felt very bad in Washington. . . I didn't like my job, and I didn't know what was going to happen to me, and I was cold and half-hungry, so I wrote a great many poems.
Good evening, daddy! Ain't you heard The boogie-woogie rumble Of a dream deferred? Trilling the treble And twining the bass Into midnight ruffles Of cat-gut lace.
Yet the ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond-jade, Are only silly puppet gods That people themselves Have made.-
I went down to the river, I set down on the bank. I tried to think but couldn't, So I jumped in and sank.
Frosting Freedom Is just frosting On somebody else's Cake-- And so must be Till we Learn how to Bake.
Hard as I try, daddy-o, I really do not like concert singers. They are always singing in some foreign language.
When you turn the corner And you run into yourself Then you know that you have turned All the corners that are left.
A dog gets lonesome just like a human. He wants to associate with other dogs, but when they take him out, the poor dog is on a leash and cannot run around.
I know how to handle women who act like ladies, but my landlady ain't no lady. Sometimes I even wish I was living with my wife again so I could have my own place and not have no landladies.
Books -where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas
I do not want no pretty woman. First thing you know, you fall in love with her-then you got to kill somebody about her. She'll make you so jealous, you'll bust!
As long as what is is-and Georgia is Georgia-I will take Harlem for mine. At least, if trouble comes, I will have my own window to shoot from.
Cheap little rhymes A cheap little tune Are sometimes as dangerous As a sliver of the moon.
A picture, to be an interesting picture, must be more than a picture, otherwise it is only a reproduction of an object, and not an object of value in itself.
Sometimes I wish the public were equally aware of the men of our race in the cultural fields. You, for instance, have you ever bought a book by a Negro writer?
These feet have walked ten thousand miles working for white folks and another ten thousand keeping up with colored.
When I were a young man, I used to play baseball and steal bases just like Jackie Robinson. If the empire would rule me out, I would get mad and hit the empire.
I asked you, baby, If you understood- You told me that you didn't, But you thought you would.
It were depression, too. They cut my wages down once at the foundry. They cut my wages down again. Then they cut my wages out, also the job.
So since I'm still here livin', I guess I will live on. I could've died for love-- But for livin' I was born.
Life is for the living.Death is for the dead.Let life be like music. And death a note unsaid.
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
Oh, God of Dust and Rainbows, Help us to seeThat without the dust the rainbowWould not be.
So since I'm still here livin', I guess I will live on.I could've died for love--But for livin' I was born.
Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged bird, That cannot fly.
I went down to the river, I set down on the bank.I tried to think but couldn't, So I jumped in and sank.
Though you may hear me holler, And you may see me cry--I'll be dogged, sweet baby, If you gonna see me die.
Looks like what drives me crazyDon't have no effect on you--But I'm gonna keep on at itTill it drives you crazy, too.
Cheap little rhymesA cheap little tuneAre sometimes as dangerousAs a sliver of the moon.
Out of love, No regrets--Though the goodnessBe wasted forever.Out of love, No regrets--Though the returnBe never.
Pleasured equallyIn seeking as in finding, Each detail minding, Old Walt went seekingAnd finding.
I stay cool, and dig all jive, That's the way I stay alive.My motto, as I live and learn, isDig and be dugIn return.
Hold fast to dreamsfor if dreams dielife is a broken-winged birdthat can not fly.Hold fast to dreamsfor when dreams golife is a barren fieldfrozen with snow.
God in his infinite wisdomDid not make me very wise-So when my actions are stupidThey hardly take God by surprise.
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.
