Quotes from Langston Hughes

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

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

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.

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

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.

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love. I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America.

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

Though you may hear me holler, And you may see me cry-- I'll be dogged, sweet baby, If you gonna see me die.

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'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.

I am so tired of waiting. Aren't you, for the world to become good and beautiful and kind? Let us take a knife and cut the world in two— and see what worms are eating at the rind.

I swear to the Lord,I still can't see,Why Democracy means,Everybody but me.

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

To some people Love is given, To others Only Heaven.

The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.

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,....

Out of love, No regrets-- Though the goodness Be wasted forever. Out of love, No regrets-- Though the return Be never.