Top Langston Hughes Quotes

Langston Hughes Biography

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri.

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Langston Hughes Quotes

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

Baby, Cry, Die, Holler, May, Sweet

This is the mountain standing in the way of any true Negro art in America - this urge within the race toward whiteness, the desire to pour racial individuality into the mold of American standardization, and to be as little Negro and as much American as possible.

America, Art, Pour, Race, Urge

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!

America, Death, Gangster, Land, Lying, Rape

Gather up In the arms of your love—Those who expect No love from above.

Arms, Expect, Gather, Love, No Love

I stuck my head out the window this morning and spring kissed me bang in the face.

Bang, Bangs, Kissed, Morning, Spring

I’s been livin’ a long time in yesterday, Sandy chile, an’ I knows there ain’t no room in de world fo’ nothin’ mo’n love. I know, chile! Ever’thing there is but lovin’ leaves a rust on yo’ soul. An’ to love sho ‘nough, you got to have a spot in yo’ heart fo’ ever’body – great an’ small, white an’ black, an’ them what’s good an’ them what’s evil – ‘cause love ain’t got no crowded-out places where de good ones stay an’ de bad ones can’t come in. When it gets that way, then it ain’t love.

Bad, Heart, Nough, White, Yesterday

It were depression, too. They cut my wages down once at the foundry. They cut my wages down again. Then they cut my wages out, also the job.

Cut, Cutting, Down, Jobs, Unemployment, Wages

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!

Beating, Closely, Dream, Morning, Thinking

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.

Blood, Grown, Rivers, Science, Veins

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

Beautiful, Book, Kansas, Language, People

Love is a naked shadow, On a gnarled and naked tree.

Gnarled, Love, Love Is, Shadow, Tree

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

Drops, Kissing, Let, Lullaby, Rain, Water

Life for me ain't been no crystal stair

Crystal, Crystals, Life, Splinters, Stair, Stairs

Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be.

America, Dream, Let, Used

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.

Down, Jumped, Rivers, Think, Thinking, Tried

The past has been a mint Of blood and sorrow. That must not be True of tomorrow.

Blood, Past, Sorrow, Tomorrow

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.

Ends, Loved, My Friends, Nothing, Say

I've been scared and battered. My hopes the wind done scattered. Snow has friz me, Sun has baked me, Looks like between 'em they done Tried to make me Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'-- But I don't care! I'm still here!

Looks, Make, Snow, Sun, Tried, Wind

Misery is when you heard on the radio that the neighborhood you live in is a slum but you always thought it was home.

Home, Live, Misery, Radio, Slum

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

Censorship, Color, Negro, Poetry, Racism, Writers

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Langston Hughes Biography

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