“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?”
"Harlem"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
Context: What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore —
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over —
like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load. Or does it explode?
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Langston Hughes 79
American writer and social activist 1902–1967Related quotes
“A dream deferred is a dream denied.”
Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
“He felt like an old sponge steeped in paraffin and left in the sun to dry.”
Source: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
“There’s a certain
amount of traveling
in a dream deferred.”
"Same in Blues"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
Variant: A certain amount
of nothing
in a dream deferred.
“Dry sun, dry wind;
Safe bind, safe find.”
Washing, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Than catch and hold while I may, fast binde, fast finde", John Heywood, Proverbes, Part I, Chapter III; "Fast bind, fast find; A proverb never stale in thrifty mind", William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, act ii. sc. 5.
“Dream within a dream,
Our dream deferred.
Good morning, daddy!
Ain’t you heard?”
"Island"
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
Variant: What happens
to a dream deferred?
Daddy, ain’t you heard?
“Defer not till tomorrow to be wise,
Tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise.”
"Letter to Cobham", line 61. Compare: "Be wise to-day, 't is madness to defer", Edward Young, Night Thoughts, Night i. line 390
¿Qué os espanta,
si fue mi maestro un sueño,
y estoy temiendo, en mis ansias,
que he de despertar y hallarme
otra vez en mi cerrada
prisión? Y cuando no sea,
el soñarlo sólo basta;
pues así llegué a saber
que toda la dicha humana,
en fin, pasa como sueño.
Segismundo, Act III, l. 1114.
La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream)
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, Chapter 1, Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft
“Good evening, daddy
I know you’ve heard
The boogie-woogie rumble
Of a dream deferred”
"Boogie: 1 a.m."
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)