Quotes from Langston Hughes

We represent the end of race. And the Fascists know that when there is no more race, there will be no more capitalism, and no more war, and no more money for the munition makers, because the workers of the world will have triumphed.

Freedom Is a strong seed Planted In a great need. I live here, too. I want freedom Just as you.

Let guns alone salute The wisdom of our age With dusty powder marks On yet another page of history.

She worked for the Studevants, who treated her like a dog. She stood it. Had to stand it; or work for poorer white folks who would treat her worse; or go jobless.

Fact: There's been an eagle on a nickel, An eagle on a quarter, too. But there ain't no eagle On a dime.

We passed their graves: The dead men there, Winners or losers, Did not care. In the dark They could not see Who had gained The victory.

Union : Not me alone-- I know now-- But all the whole oppressed Poor world, White and black, Must put their hands with mine To shake the pillars of those temples Wherein the false gods dwell And worn-out altars stand Too well defended, And the rule of greed's upheld- That must be ended.

As for reading books, even far-out books, even beatnik books, fine. Only there are not enough books for me down South, which is one reason I came to New York.

That is no way to get Justice." "That is the way the Allies got it--breaking up Germany, breaking up Hiroshima, and everything in sight. But these white folks are more scared of Negroes in the U.S.A. than they ever was of Hitler....

Today like yesterday Tomorrow like today; The drip, drip, drip, Of monotony Is wearing my life away; Today like yesterday, Tomorrow like today.

Friend, I am thinking about money--which goes beyond race. If all the Negroes in the world had money, the color problem would be solved in the morning.

Take Harlem's heartbeat, Make a drumbeat, Put it on a record, let it whirl, And while we listen to it play, Dance with you till day— Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.

You never miss the water till the well runs dry. Those who ought to know, tell me that you never really appreciate Moscow until you get back again to the land of the bread lines, unemployment, Jim Crow cars and crooked politicians, brutal bankers and overbearing police, three per cent beer and the Scottsboro case.

In America Negroes do not have to be told what fascism is, We know.

Though you may hear me holler, And you may see me cry— I'll be dogged, sweet baby, If you gonna see me die. Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!

To you Who are the Foam on the sea And not the sea-- What of the jagged rocks, And the waves themselves, And the force of the mounting waters? You are But foam on the sea, You rich ones-- Not the sea.

Open your heart, and life will provide unlimited abundance.

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

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

Once, when I were a child, I were kicked by a small mule. Neither the mule nor I had any sense. I were trying to make the mule go one way, but the mule was trying to make me go another. I were for hitching the mule onto a plow. The mule were for nibbling grass. So, after that kicking, I learned right then and there to respect animals and peoples when they are not of the same mind as you are.

Bartender, tell this man to vacate my person.

In the course of our conversation, I learned that there were many cities in Central Asia where dark men and women are in control of the government. And I thought about Mississippi where more than half of the population is Negro, but one never hears of a colored person in the government. In fact, in the state Negroes cannot even vote. And you will never meet them riding in the sleeping car.

Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed— I, too, am America.

And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. Rose slowly, slowly, Dimming, Hiding, The light of my dream. Rose until it touched the sky— The wall.