Quotes from Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

There is no color line in death.

I will take your heart. I will take your soul out of your body As though I were God. I will not be satisfied With the little words you say to me. I will not be satisfied With the touch of your hand Nor the sweet of your lips alone. I will take your heart for mine. I will take your soul. I will be God when it comes to you.

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

Oppression Now dreams Are not available To the dreamers, Nor songs To the singers. In some lands Dark night And cold steel Prevail-- But the dream Will come back, And the song Break Its jail.

American Heartbreak I am the American heartbreak-- The rock on which Freedom Stumped its toe-- The great mistake That Jamestown made Long ago.

You see, books had been happening to me.

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

Island Wave of sorrow, Do not drown me now: I see the island Still ahead somehow. I see the island And its sands are fair: Wave of sorrow, Take me there.

They rung my bell to ask me. Could I recommend a maid. I said, yes, your momma.

Question and Answer Durban, Birmingham, Cape Town, Alabama, Johannesburg, Watts, The earth around Struggling, 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.

Good morning, daddy! Ain't you heard The boogie-woogie rumble Of a dream deferred? Listen closely: You'll hear their feet Beating out and beating out a - You think It's a happy beat? Listen to it closely: Ain't you heard something underneath like a - What did I say? Sure, I'm happy! Take it away! Dream Boogie Hey, pop! Re-bop! Mop! Y-e-a-h!

I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes, but I laugh and I eat well, and I grow strong. Tomorrow I'll sit in the table when company comes, nobody will dare say to me "eat in the kitchen" then. Besides they'll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed.

For poems are like rainbows; they escape you quickly.

Militant Let all who will Eat quietly the bread of shame. I cannot, Without complaining loud and long, Tasting its bitterness in my throat And feeling to my very soul It's wrong. For honest work You proffer me poor pay, For honest dreams Your spit is in my face, And so my fist is clenched Today-- To strike your face.

Final Curve When you turn the corner And you run into yourself Then you know that you have turned All the corners that are left

Quiet Girl 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.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Lawrence has a wonderful hill in it, with a university on top and the first time I ran away from home, I ran up the hill and looked across the world: Kansas wheat fields and the Kaw River, and I wanted to go some place, too. I got a whipping for it.

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

I was unhappy for a long time, and very lonesome, living with my grandmother. Then it was that books began to happen to me, and I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books — where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas.

As I learn from you, I guess you learn From me --- although You're older --- and white And somewhat more free.

I will not take 'but' for an answer.

Good people are not that good. To tell the truth, if I were white, no matter how much I loved Negroes, I doubt that I would submit myself to Jim Crow living conditions just to prove my love." "Neither would I," said Simple. "Then you would not be very good, either." "No," said Simple, "but I would be white.