Quotes from Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams

The Dream Keeper Bring me all of your dreams, You dreamers, Bring me all of your Heart melodies That I may wrap them In a blue cloud-cloth Away from the too-rough fingers Of the world.

I would liken you To a night without stars Were it not for your eyes. I would liken you To a sleep without dreams Were it not for your songs.

Anne burst out, "You know, I think I'd like to paint you." Michael said, "Oh, I say now, that would be lovely! He's so utterly Negro.

And the night becomes Still as a whispering heartbeat.

Without rest in the darkness, Weary as the tired night, My soul Empty as the silence, Empty with a vague, Aching emptiness, Desiring, Needing someone, Something.

What right has anyone to say That I Must throw out pieces of my heart For pay?

My boss is white," said Simple. "Most bosses are," I said.

We have tomorrow Bright before us Like a flame. Yesterday A night-gone thing, A sun-down name. And dawn-today Broad arch above the road we came.

I am so tired of waiting. Aren't you, for the world to become good and beautiful and kind ?

But, to my mind, it is the duty of the younger Negro artist, if he accepts any duties at all from outsiders, to change through the force of his art that old whispering "I want to be white," hidden in the aspirations of his people, to "Why should I want to be white? I am a Negro—and beautiful"?

Love is a naked shadow On a gnarled and naked tree

Weary, Weary, Trouble, pain. Sun's gonna shine Somewhere Again.

Love, Oh, love is Such a strange disease. Love, Oh, love is Such a strange disease. When it hurts yo' heart you Sho can't find no ease.

And when I get on the train I'll cast my blues aside.

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?

Tears are my laughter. Laughter is my pain. Cry at my grinning mouth, If you will. Laugh at my sorrow's reign.

Beale Street Love Love Is a brown man's fist With hard knuckles Crushing the lips, Blackening the eyes – Hit me again, Says Clorinda.

Strange, That in this nigger place, I should meet Life face to face When for years, I had been seeking Life in places gentler speaking Until I came to this near street And found Life — stepping on my feet!

Bad Luck Card Cause you don't love me Is awful, awful hard. Gypsy done showed me Ma bad luck card. There ain't no good left In this world for me. Gypsy done tole me, -- Unlucky as can be. I don't know what Po' weary me can do. Gypsy says I'd kill ma self If I was you.

Find my dream! Help me to shatter this darkness, To smash this night, To break this shadow Into a thousand lights of sun, Into a thousand whirling dreams Of sun!

The sea is a wilderness of waves, A desert of water. We dip and dive, Rise and roll, Hide and are hidden On the sea. Day, night, Night, day, The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.

Magnolia Flowers The quiet fading out of life In a corner full of ugliness.

Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird, That cannot fly.