Quotes from Claude McKay

If a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything.

Nations, like plants and human beings, grow. And if the development is thwarted they are dwarfed and overshadowed.

Upon the clothes behind the tenement, That hang like ghosts suspended from the lines, Linking each flat, but to each indifferent, Incongruous and strange the moonlight shines.

Adventure-seasoned and storm-buffeted, I shun all signs of anchorage, because The zest of life exceeds the bound of laws.

Deep in the secret chambers of my heart I muse my life-long hate, and without flinch I bear it nobly as I live my part.

We are like trees. We wear all colors naturally.

Idealism is like a castle in the air if it is not based on a solid foundation of social and political realism.

I know the dark delight of being strange, The penalty of difference in the crowd, The loneliness of wisdom among fools.

Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

Upon the clothes behind the tenement,That hang like ghosts suspended from the lines,Linking each flat, but to each indifferent,Incongruous and strange the moonlight shines.

If we must die, let it not be like hogsHunted and penned in an inglorious spot.

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth,Stealing my breath of life, I must confessI love this cultured hell that tests my youth!Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,Giving me strength erect against her hate.Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.

If a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything.

I know the dark delight of being strange, The penalty of difference in the crowd, The loneliness of wisdom among fools...

Adventure-seasoned and storm-buffeted, I shun all signs of anchorage, because The zest of life exceeds the bound of laws.

December, 1919 Last night I heard your voice, mother, The words you sang to me When I, a little barefoot boy, Knelt down against your knee. And tears gushed from my heart, mother, And passed beyond its wall, But though the fountain reached my throat The drops refused to fall. 'Tis ten years since you died, mother, Just ten dark years of pain, And oh, I only wish that I Could weep just once again.

The Europeans fight to exterminate us and call it civilizing us.

Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate Against the potent poison of your hate.

Your door is shut against my tightened face, And I am sharp as steel with discontent; But I possess the courage and the grace To bear my anger proudly and unbent.

I know the dark delight of being strange, The penalty of difference in the crowd, The loneliness of wisdom among fools, Yet never have I felt but very proud, Though I have suffered agonies of hell, Of living in my own peculiar cell. - My House

Newton appeared more nervously emphatic in his manner since Sunday when the Senegambians left him in his underwear and Delta had to hurry down to bring him another suit. Before his wife arrived the superintendent had removed the gag from his mouth and the experience had apparently made him more loquacious. He felt as if he had earned his medal as a hero of the cause. He talked unceasingly, agitating his hands.

went with you or not." "But what would happen if you quit him and stayed here in Marseille?" "I don't care." Aslima began dancing round the room singing a pig-song in her language which is something like this translated: Want to know what's loving sweet, Want to know what's loving big? When two naughty lovers meet And unite in loving pigs.

Human dignity is more precious than prestige.

If we must die, let it not be like hogs Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, If we must die, O let us nobly die.