70+ Famous Langston Hughes Quotes On Love, Life, America And Racism

Violent anger makes me physically ill.

Hold fast to dreams,
for if dreams die
life is a broken-winged bird,
that cannot fly.

I look at my own body
With eyes no longer blind-
And I see that my own hands can make
The world that’s in my mind.

Life is an egg you have to be patient and careful with it or it will break.

Though you may hear me holler,
and you may see me cry–
i’ll be dogged, sweet baby,
if you gonna see me die.

Beauty for some provides escape, who gain a happiness in eyeing the gorgeous buttocks of the ape or Autumn sunsets exquisitely dying.

Because my mouth Is wide with laughter And my throat Is deep with song, You do not think I suffer after I have held my pain So long? Because my mouth Is wide with laughter You do not hear My inner cry? Because my feet Are gay with dancing You do not know I die?

Oh, God of Dust and Rainbows, Help us to see That without the dust the rainbow Would not be.

I live in Harlem, New York City. I am unmarried. I like ‘Tristan,’ goat’s milk, short novels, lyric poems, heat, simple folk, boats and bullfights; I dislike ‘Aida,’ parsnips, long novels, narrative poems, cold, pretentious folk, buses and bridges.

I loved my friend
he went away from me
there’s nothing more to say
the poem ends,
soft as it began-
i loved my friend.

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.

Humor is laughing at what you haven’t got when you ought to have it.

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.

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 when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.

I am the American heartbreak- The rock on which Freedom Stumped its toe.

Writing is like travelling. It’s wonderful to go somewhere, but you get tired of staying.

I’m so tired of waiting, aren’t you, for the world to become good and beautiful and kind?

Go home and write / a page tonight. / And let that page come out of you – / Then, it will be true.

Gather out of star-dust, Earth-dust, Cloud-dust, Storm-dust, And splinters of hail, One handful of dream-dust, Not for sale.

I wish the rent Was heaven sent.

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!

Out of love,
no regrets–
though the goodness
be wasted forever.

out of love,
no regrets–
though the return
be never.

An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.

Life is for the living. Death is for the dead. Let life be like music. And death a note unsaid.

Perhaps the mission of an artist is to interpret beauty to people – the beauty within themselves.

Harlem

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?.

Hold fast to dreams
for if dreams die
life is a broken-winged bird
that can not fly.

hold fast to dreams
for when dreams go
life is a barren field
frozen with snow.

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.

Democracy will not come Today, this year Nor ever Through compromise and fear.

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.

i like to work, read, learn, and understand life.

Folks, I’m telling you, birthing is hard and dying is mean- so get yourself a little loving in between.

To some people
love is given,
to others
only heaven.

When peoples care for you and cry for you, they can straighten out your soul.

Life is for the living.
death is for the dead.
let life be like music.
and death a note unsaid.

Yet the ivory gods, and the ebony gods, and the gods of diamond-jade, are only silly puppet gods that people themselves have made.-.

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.

Road’s in front o’ me, Nothin’ to do but walk.

I swear to the Lord, I still can’t see, why Democracy means, everybody but me.

Good morning, Revolution: You’re the very best friend I ever had. We gonna pal around together from now on

I stay cool, and dig all jive, That’s the way I stay alive. My motto, as I live and learn, is Dig and be dug In return.

Oh, god of dust and rainbows,
help us to see
that without the dust the rainbow
would not be.

There is no color line in death. I swear to the lord I still can’t see Why Democracy means Everybody but me. O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath – America will be! I am the American heartbreak- The rock on which Freedom Stumped its toe.

Americans of good-will, the nice decent church people, the well-meaning liberals, the good hearted souls who themselves wouldn’t lynch anyone, must begin to realize that they have to be more than passively good-hearted, more than church goingly Christian, and much more than word-of-mouth in the liberalism.

Looks like what drives me crazy Don’t have no effect on you– But I’m gonna keep on at it Till it drives you crazy, too.

Gather out of star-dust,
earth-dust,
cloud-dust,
storm-dust,
and splinters of hail,
one handful of dream-dust,
not for sale.

Folks, i’m telling you,
birthing is hard
and dying is mean-
so get yourself
a little loving
in between.

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

Humor is laughing at what you haven’t got when you ought to have it … what you wish in your secret heart were not funny, but it is, and you must laugh. Humor is your own unconscious therapy. Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air, and you.

A dream deferred is a dream denied.

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?

I must never write when I do not want to write.

LIBERTY! FREEDOM! DEMOCRACY! True anyhow no matter how many Liars use those words.

Let America be America, where equality is in the air we breathe.

I asked you, baby,
if you understood-
you told me that you didn’t,
but you thought you would.

I stay cool, and dig all jive,
that’s the way I stay alive.
my motto,
as I live and learn,
is
dig and be dug
in return.

That Justice is a blind goddess
Is a thing to which we black are wise:
Her bandage hides two festering sores
That once perhaps were eyes.

Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you.

Gather quickly
Out of darkness
All the songs you know
And throw them at the sun
Before they melt
Like snow.

In all my life, I have never been free. I have never been able to do anything with freedom, except in the field of my writing.

Looks like what drives me crazy
don’t have no effect on you–
but i’m gonna keep on at it
till it drives you crazy, too.

The only way to get a thing done is to start to do it, then keep on doing it, and finally you’ll finish it.

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? … Or does it explode?

Reach Up Your Hand… and take a star.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

When a man starts out to build a world, He starts first with himself

I dream a world… where wretchedness will hang its head and joy, like a pearl, attends the needs of all mankind. Of such I dream, my world!

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.

America never was America to me And yet I swear this oath – America will be!

We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.

A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the Earth
And every man is free.