Langston Hughes

“Words Like FreedomThere are words like FreedomSweet and wonderful to say.On my heartstrings freedom singsAll day everyday.There are words like LibertyThat almost make me cry.If you had known what I knowYou would know why.”

“American HeartbreakI am the American heartbreak--The rock on which FreedomStumped its toe--The great mistakeThat Jamestown madeLong ago.”

“FreedomIs a strong seedPlantedIn a great need.I live here, too.I want freedomJust as you.”

“OppressionNow dreamsAre not availableTo the dreamers,Nor songsTo the singers.In some landsDark nightAnd cold steelPrevail--But the dreamWill come back,And the songBreakIts jail.”

“Down Where I AmToo many yearsBeatin' at the door--I done beat myBoth fists sore.Too many yearsTryin' to get up there--Done broke my ankles down,Got nowhere.Too many yearsClimbin' that hill,'Bout out of breath.I got my fill.I'm gonna plant my feetOn solid ground.If you want to see me,Come down.”

“JusticeThat Justice is a blind goddessIs a thing to which we black are wise:Her bandage hides two festering soresThat once perhaps were eyes.”

“MilitantLet all who willEat quietly the bread of shame.I cannot,Without complaining loud and long,Tasting its bitterness in my throatAnd feeling to my very soulIt's wrong.For honest workYou proffer me poor pay,For honest dreamsYour spit is in my face,And so my fist is clenchedToday--To strike your face.”

“FrostingFreedomIs just frostingOn somebody else'sCake--And so must beTill weLearn how toBake.”

“Question and AnswerDurban, Birmingham,Cape Town, Alabama,Johannesburg, Watts,The earth aroundStruggling, fighting,Dying--for what?A world to gain.Groping, hoping,Waiting--for what?A world to gain.Dreams kicked asunder,Why not go under?There's a world to gain.But suppose I don't want it,Why take it?To remake it.”

“PeaceWe passed their graves:The dead men there,Winners or losers,Did not care.In the darkThey could not seeWho had gainedThe victory.”

“Bow down and pray in fear and trembling, go way back in the dark afraid; or work harder and harder; or stumble and learn; or raise up your fist and strike-but once the idea comes into your head you’ll never be the same again. Oh, test tube of life! Crucible of the South, find the right powder and you’ll never be the same again-the cotton will blaze and the cabins will burn and the chains will be broken and men, all of a sudden, will shakes hands, black men and white men, like steel meeting steel!”

“My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”

“My old man's a white old manAnd my old mother's black.If ever I cursed my white old manI take my curses back.If ever I cursed my black old motherAnd wished she were in hell,I'm sorry for that evil wishAnd now i wish her wellMy old man died in a fine big houseMy Ma died in a shack.I wonder were i'm going to die,Being neither white nor black?”

“Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.”

“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.”

“Books -where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas”

“Even to an outsider like myself, not only in the theatre was such disunity evident, but in much else in government Spain. Alvarez del Vayo, Socialist Minister of Foreign Affairs, once asked, "Why is it Spain's people are so great, but her leaders so small?”

“You and I By Henry Alford My hand is lonely for your clasping, dear; My ear is tired waiting for your call. I want your strength to help, your laugh to cheer; Heart, soul and senses need you, one and all. I droop without your full, frank sympathy; We ought to be together—you and I; We want each other so, to comprehend The dream, the hope, things planned, or seen, or wrought. Companion, comforter and guide and friend, As much as love asks love, does thought ask thought. Life is so short, so fast the lone hours fly, We ought to be together, you and I.”

“I've been scared and battered. My hopes the wind done scattered. Snow has friz me, Sun has baked me, Looks like between 'em they done Tried to make me Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'-- But I don't care! I'm still here!”

“As much as they loved Negroes, Neroes didn't seem to love Michael and Anne.”

“Of course Covarrubias wasn't a negro, but how he caught the darky spirit!”

“Cheap little rhymesA cheap little tuneAre sometimes as dangerousAs a sliver of the moon.”

“Your explanation depresses me," I said."Your nonsense depresses me," said Simple.”

“Life dosent frighten me at all.”

“O, let my land be a land where LibertyIs crowned with no false patriotic wreath,But opportunity is real, and life is free,Equality is in the air we breathe.”

“I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face.”

“I’s been livin’ a long time in yesterday, Sandy chile, an’ I knows there ain’t no room in de world fo’ nothin’ mo’n love. I know, chile! Ever’thing there is but lovin’ leaves a rust on yo’ soul. An’ to love sho ‘nough, you got to have a spot in yo’ heart fo’ ever’body – great an’ small, white an’ black, an’ them what’s good an’ them what’s evil – ‘cause love ain’t got no crowded-out places where de good ones stay an’ de bad ones can’t come in. When it gets that way, then it ain’t love.”

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

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

“I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.”

“Because my mouth Is wide with laughterAnd my throat Is deep with song,You do not thinkI suffer afterI have held my painSo long?Because my mouth Is wide with laughterYou do not hear My inner cry?Because my feet Are gay with dancing You do not knowI die?”

“LIBERTY! FREEDOM! DEMOCRACY!True anyhow no matter how manyLiars use those words.”

“Good morning, daddy!Ain't you heardThe boogie-woogie rumbleOf a dream deferred?Listen closely:You'll hear their feetBeating out and beating out a -You thinkIt's a happy beat?Listen to it closely:Ain't you heardsomething underneathlike a -What did I say?Sure,I'm happy!Take it away!Dream BoogieHey, pop!Re-bop!Mop!Y-e-a-h!”

“Rest at pale evening...A tall slim tree...Night coming tenderlyBlack like me”

“America is a dream.The poet says it was promises.The people say it is promises—that will come true.The people do not always say things out loud,Nor write them down on paper.The people often holdGreat thoughts in their deepest heartsAnd sometimes only blunderingly express them,Haltingly and stumbling say them,And faultily put them into practice.The people do not always understand each other.But there is, somewhere there,Always the trying to understand,And the trying to say,"You are a man. Together we are building our land.”

“There is no color line in death.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Pleasured equallyIn seeking as in finding,Each detail minding,Old Walt went seekingAnd finding.”

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

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

“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.”

“Out of love,No regrets--Though the goodnessBe wasted forever.Out of love,No regrets--Though the returnBe never.”

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

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

“Well, son, I'll tell you:Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.It's had tacks in it,And splinters,And boards torn up,And places with no carpet on the floor --Bare.But all the timeI'se been a-climbin' on,And reachin' landin's,And turnin' corners,And sometimes goin' in the darkWhere there ain't been no light.So boy, don't you turn back.Don't you set down on the steps'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.Don't you fall now --For I'se still goin', honey,I'se still climbin',And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.”

“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.”

“Most musicians remain poor. But the music that they make, even if it does not bring them millions, gives millions of people happiness.”

“HarlemWhat 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?”