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Langston Hughes Quotes
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James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri.

He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance in New York City. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue", which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue".

✵ 1. February 1902 – 22. May 1967   •   Other names James Langston Hughes, لنقستون هیوز
Langston Hughes photo
Langston Hughes: 79   quotes 22   likes

Langston Hughes Quotes

“For poems are like rainbows; they escape you quickly.”

Langston Hughes

The Big Sea (1940)

“O, let America be America again —
The land that never has been yet —
And yet must be — the land where every man is free.”

Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again (1935)

“Daddy, daddy, daddy,
All I want is you.
You can have me, baby —
but my lovin’ days is through.
A certain amount
of impotence
in a dream deferred.”

Langston Hughes

"Same in Blues"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)

Dreams , Baby

“The instructor said, Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you —
Then, it will be true.”

Langston Hughes

"Theme from English B"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)

Home

“I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek —
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.”

Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again (1935)

Stupidity , Dogs , Hope , Fools

“Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed —
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.”

Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again (1935)

Love , Dreams , Strong

“While over Alabama earth
These words are gently spoken:
Serve — and hate will die unborn.
Love — and chains are broken.”

Langston Hughes

"Alabama Earth (at Booker Washington's grave)," from the anthology Golden Slippers: An Anthology of Negro Poetry for Young Readers (1941), ed. Arna Bontemps

Love , Hate

“I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.”

Langston Hughes

"I, Too", in the magazine Survey Graphic (March 1925); reprinted in Selected Poems (1959); it is also often referred to as "I, Too, Sing America"

Singing , Strong