James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American social activist, playwright, novelist, poet and essayist. He was associated with the Harlem Renaissance movement that swept across New York City during the 1920s. Hughes was also one of the pioneers of a form of poetry that came to be known as jazz poetry and is regarded as one of its earliest exponents. He had been a poet right from his childhood and his first work titled ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ was published in the influential ‘The Crisis magazine’. That poem became one of his most famous works and was published in several other magazines over the years. Hughes produced a vast amount of work throughout his career including poetry collections like ‘The Weary Blues’, ‘Let America be America Again’, short story collections like ‘The Way of White Folks’ and novels like ‘Not Without Laughter’ among many other works. He was truly an icon of the African-American population of New York City at the time, who provided a whole new perspective to social activism through his literary works. We bring to you a treasure trove of quotes that have been excerpted from his novels, books, poems and writings. Read on to explore a compilation of some of the best known quotes by Langston Hughes, covering various aspects of life. The quotes would surely leave a lasting impression on your mind and keep you inspired.
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.
Langston Hughes
Oh, God of Dust and Rainbows,
Help us to see
That without the dust the rainbow
Would not be.
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 tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I'm dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow's bread.
The Dream Keeper
Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
Negroes
Sweet and docile,
Meek, humble, and kind:
Beware the day
They change their minds!
Wind
In the cotton fields,
Gentle breeze:
Beware the hour
It uproots trees!
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.
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
American Heartbreak
I am the American heartbreak--
The rock on which Freedom
Stumped its toe--
The great mistake
That Jamestown made
Long ago.
Langston Hughes
Justice
That Justice is a blind goddess
Is a thing to which we black are wise:
Her bandage hides two festering sores
That once perhaps were eyes.
Langston Hughes
Books -where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas
Langston Hughes
Impasse
I could tell you
If I wanted to,
What makes me
What I am.
But I don't
Really want to –
And you don't
Give a damn.
I look at my own body
With eyes no longer blind—
And I see that my own hands can make
The world that’s in my mind.
Then let us hurry, comrades,
The road to find.
2 and 2 are 4.
4 and 4 are 8.
But what would happen
If the last 4 was late?
And how would it be
If one 2 was me?
Or if the first 4 was you
Divided by 2?
Langston Hughes
As much as they loved Negroes, Neroes didn't seem to love Michael and Anne.
Of course Covarrubias wasn't a negro, but how he caught the darky spirit!
Langston Hughes
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.
She thought that only
One side won,
Not that BOTH
Might lose. )
