Selected Poems Quotes

“Looks like what drives me crazy
Don't have no effect on you--
But I'm gonna keep on at it
Till it drives you crazy, too.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“So since I'm still here livin',
I guess I will live on.
I could've died for love--
But for livin' I was born.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“The sea is a desert of waves,
A wilderness of water.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Out of love,
No regrets--
Though the goodness
Be wasted forever.

Out of love,
No regrets--
Though the return
Be never.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“I will take your heart.
I will take your soul out of your body
As though I were God.
I will not be satisfied
With the little words you say to me.
I will not be satisfied
With the touch of your hand
Nor the sweet of your lips alone.
I will take your heart for mine.
I will take your soul.
I will be God when it comes to you.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Island

Wave of sorrow,
Do not drown me now:

I see the island
Still ahead somehow.

I see the island
And its sands are fair:

Wave of sorrow,
Take me there.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Final Curve

When you turn the corner
And you run into yourself
Then you know that you have turned
All the corners that are left”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Tell all my mourners
To mourn in red-
Cause there ain't no sense
In my bein' dead.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Consider me,
Descended also
From the
Mystery.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“The speaker catches fire
looking at their faces.
His words
jump down to stand
in listener's places.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Joe has sense enough to know
He is a god.
So many gods don't know.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“You are white-
Yet a part of me as I am a part of you.
That's American....

AsI learn from you,
I guess you learn from me-
Although you're older-and white-
And somewhat more free.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Them cool green leaves
Is waitin' to shelter me

O, little tree!”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Nature has a way
Of not caring much
About marriage
Licenses and such”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Freedom     Is a strong seed     Planted     In a great need.     I live here, too.     I want freedom     Just as you.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems of 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. Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems of Langston Hughes

“Hell no! It's time to talk back now!
History says it's time”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“I'm like that old mule-
Black- and don't give a damn!
You got to take me
Like I am.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“What shall I tell my children?...You tell me-
'Cause freedom ain't freedom when a man ain't free.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Gather up In the arms of your love— Those who expect No love from above.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems of Langston Hughes

“And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. Rose slowly, slowly, Dimming, Hiding, The light of my dream. Rose until it touched the sky— The wall.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems of Langston Hughes

“Fact:

There’s been an eagle on a nickel,
An eagle on a quarter, too.
But there ain’t no eagle
On a dime.”
― Langston Hughes , Selected Poems

“The night is beautiful,
So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,
So the eyes of my people.

Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“And the sun has made
Her skin so brown.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“PERSONAL
In an envelope marked:
Personal
God addressed me a letter.
In an envelope marked:
Personal
I have given my answer.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems

“Babe, did you ever
See the sun
Rise at dawnin' full of fun?
Says, did you ever see the sun rise
Full of fun, full of fun?
Then you know a new day's
Done begun.”
― Langston Hughes, Selected Poems