Langston Hughes

"I am not ashamed of my people."

"What is Africa to me?"

"We must fight for our dreams with all our hearts."

"The night and the stars are within us."

"I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins."

"Life for me ain't been no crystal stair, but I keeps on climbing."

"The Negro speaks of rivers."

"I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing the weight of the land."

"What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?"

"Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it."

"I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go."

"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly."

"We have tomorrow bright before us like a flame."

"I've learned that I must pursue my dreams with passion and persistence."

"The idea of your race does not make me bitter."

"I am not merely a part of the darkness; I am also a seeker of light."

"Build your own world, or someone will build one for you and make you live in it."

"Nothing is given to you. Everything is something you must earn."

"I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best."

"Neglecting the darkness is a kind of ignorance."

"The wars of the future will be fought by engineers and chemists."

"Folks, I'm telling you, birthing is hard and dying is mean—so get yourself a little loving in between."

"Art should express the experience of the people, not their oppression."

"I do not need my freedom when I am dead. I cannot live on tomorrow's bread."

"Life for me ain't been no crystal stair."

"I'm going to do my thing and if it don't work out, I'll do another thing."

"The rights of man transcend all frontiers."

"We understand that we are the music makers and the dream weavers of our time."

"I have as much right to my opinion as you have to yours."

"Education must begin the moment a child is born."