“The night is beautiful, so are the faces of my people.”

— Langston Hughes, "My People", Poems in Crisis, 1923

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.”

“Let whatever appears to be the best be to you an inviolable law.”

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

“All that glisters is not gold.”

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

“And one man in his time plays many parts.”

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”