Harlem Renaissance Quotes

• An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.

  Langston Hughes

  Inspirational, Artist, Black History

  Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper, Langston Hughes (1996). “Not So Simple: The "Simple" Stories by Langston Hughes”, p.35, University of Missouri Press

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• When I think of the Harlem Renaissance, I think of bright colors, and bold, dynamic art. African American artists of the period were, in large measure, breaking out of the constrictions white society had set for them. They were claiming and remaking their own images, and doing so in bold and striking ways.

  Nikki Grimes

  Art, Thinking, Color

  Source: www.hbook.com

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  Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Inspiring, Happiness, Success

  Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker (1979). “I Love Myself when I Am Laughing ... and Then Again when I Am Looking Mean and Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader”, p.155, Feminist Press at CUNY

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  If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Pain, Silent, Enjoyed

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

  Langston Hughes

  Love, Inspirational, Change

  "Dreams" l. 1 (1929)

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  There are years that ask questions and years that answer.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Life, Inspiring, Time

  Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker (1979). “I Love Myself when I Am Laughing ... and Then Again when I Am Looking Mean and Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader”, p.246, Feminist Press at CUNY

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• When I was 17, I worked in a mentoring program in Harlem designed to improve the community. That's when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African-Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Appreciation, Taken, Athlete

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• The best of humanity's recorded history is a creative balance between horrors endured and victories achieved, and so it was during the Harlem Renaissance.

  Aberjhani

  Creative, Humanity, Victory

  Aberjhani (2014). “Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry”, p.102, Lulu.com

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• I swear to the Lord, I still can't see, why Democracy means, everybody but me.

  Langston Hughes

  Mean, Racism, Political

  "The Black Man Speaks" l. 1 (1943)

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  Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you.

  Langston Hughes

  Summer, Rain, Humor

  Langston Hughes (2002). “The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Essays on art, race, politics, and world affairs”, p.525, University of Missouri Press

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

  Langston Hughes

  Life, Determination, Want

  Langston Hughes, Dolan Hubbard (2003). “The Collected Works of Langston Hughes”

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  Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Writing, Science, Curiosity

  Zora Neale Hurston, Cheryl A. Wall (1997). “Sweat”, p.43, Rutgers University Press

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• Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Love, Inspirational, Life

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• Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Happiness, Inspiring, Fear

  Zora Neale Hurston (2010). “Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography”, p.38, Harper Collins

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• When peoples care for you and cry for you, they can straighten out your soul.

  Langston Hughes

  Wedding, People, Soul

  Langston Hughes (2004). “The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Gospel plays, operas, and later dramatic works”, p.201, University of Missouri Press

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• I am particularly conscious of my connection to the poets of the Harlem Renaissance because I, too, am a Black poet, born into, and shaped by, the very community in which those poets of the past produced so much of the work we associate with the Harlem Renaissance. We speak from the same place, both literally and metaphorically.

  Nikki Grimes

  Past, Community, Black

  Source: www.hbook.com

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• I do not weep at the world I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.

  Zora Neale Hurston

  Oysters, Knives, Black History

  World Tomorrow "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" (1928)

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• As one who loves literature, art, music and history, I've been deeply rooted in the Harlem Renaissance for many years.

  Debbie Allen

  Art, Years, Literature

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• What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? ... Or does it explode?

  Langston Hughes

  Love, Dream, Dry Up

  "Harlem" l. 1 (1951)

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

  Langston Hughes

  Happiness, Laughter, Humor

  Langston Hughes (2002). “The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: Essays on art, race, politics, and world affairs”, p.525, University of Missouri Press

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• Beauty for some provides escape, who gain a happiness in eyeing the gorgeous buttocks of the ape or Autumn sunsets exquisitely dying.

  Langston Hughes

  Beauty, Nature, Fall

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• 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?

  Langston Hughes

  Running, Dream, Sweet

  "Harlem" l. 1 (1951)

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• What do we call our Harlem Renaissance? Maybe in the future, it won't be just Latino, maybe it'll be more multi-multi, because, you know, people are such fusions now, of so many different cultures.

  Sandra Cisneros

  People, Fusion, Different

  "Talking in Our Pajamas: A Conversation with Sandra Cisneros on Finding Your Voice, Fear of Highways, Tacos, Travel, and the Need for Peace in the World". Interview with Ruth Behar, quod.lib.umich.edu.

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• From the small clubs of the Harlem Renaissance where he began playing saxophone to world tours for the biggest of the big bands, Benny Carter redefined American jazz. From the start, his fellow musicians said the way he played the sax was amazing. They say that about me, too. (Laughter.) But I don't think they mean it in quite the same way.

  William J. Clinton

  Laughter, Mean, Thinking

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• When reading about what may be described as the lesser celebrated heroic figures of the Harlem Renaissance, we rarely get a definitive look at just how complicated and sometimes dangerous their everyday lives were. In fact, until the past ten years, many defined the period primarily by its well-known literary, musical, and artistic elements while overlooking the fact there was any political component to it at all.

  Aberjhani

  Reading, Past, Years

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