Quotes by Langston Hughes

About Langston Hughes:

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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

Langston Hughes

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.

Langston Hughes

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? Th...

Langston Hughes

Words Like Freedom There are words like Freedom Sweet and wonderful to say. On my heartstrings freedom sings All day everyday. There are words like Liberty That almost make me cry. If you had known what I know You would know why.

Langston Hughes

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

Langston Hughes

When peoples care for you and cry for you, they can straighten out your soul.

Langston Hughes

It's such a Bore Being always Poor.

Langston Hughes

I will not take 'but' for an answer.

Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes

We Negro writers, just by being black, have been on the blacklist all our lives. Censorship for us begins at the color line.

Langston Hughes

Yet the ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond-jade, Are only silly puppet gods That people themselves Have made.-

Langston Hughes

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 be...

Langston Hughes

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.

Langston Hughes

Cheap little rhymes A cheap little tune Are sometimes as dangerous As a sliver of the moon.

Langston Hughes

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

Langston Hughes

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.

Langston Hughes

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.

Langston Hughes

LIBERTY! FREEDOM! DEMOCRACY! True anyhow no matter how many Liars use those words.

Langston Hughes

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 -...

Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Langston Hughes

I dream a world where man No other man will scorn, Where love will bless the earth And peace its paths adorn I dream a world where all Will know sweet freedom's way, Where greed no longer saps the soul Nor avarice blights our day. A world I dream whe...

Langston Hughes

Author Bio

  • NameLangston Hughes
  • DescriptionAmerican writer and social activist
  • BornFebruary 1, 1902
  • DiedMay 22, 1967
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionPoet; Novelist; Playwright; Essayist; Writer
  • WorksThe Negro Speaks Of Rivers
  • AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship; Spingarn Medal; Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards; William E. Harmon Foundation Award For Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes