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

— Langston Hughes, "A Note on Humor", The Book of Negro Humor, 1966

About Langston Hughes

1901 – 1967

American poet and writer of the Harlem Renaissance, known for poems such as 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers' and 'Harlem'.

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

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

“There are lots of different kinds of blood in our family.”

“Wit is cultured insolence.”

“A sense of humour is a sense of proportion.”

“The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power.”

“Humor is the most engaging cowardice.”

“At bottom the world isn't a joke.”

“This type is the grotesque; its new form is comedy.”