Quotes from Selected Poems

Langston Hughes ·  297 pages

Rating: (5.9K votes)


“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, quote from 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, quote from Selected Poems


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


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



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


About the author

Langston Hughes
Born place: in Joplin, Missouri, The United States
Born date February 1, 1902
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“She’s so confusing. She’s so frustrating. She’s so damn unpredictable. She’s nothing I’ve ever wanted in a girl. And absolutely everything I need.”
― Colleen Hoover, quote from Maybe Not


“He spoke so effortlessly, as if his mouth were a musical instrument that just let sound out when touched, when opened.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, quote from Purple Hibiscus


“The world is full of places to which I want to return”
― Ford Madox Ford, quote from The Good Soldier


“Odysseus draped the towel over his shoulders and stretched his back. "You remember practicing with wooden swords? All the moves, the blocks, the counters, getting your footwork right, learning how to be in balance always?"
"Of course you were a hard master."
"And you recall the first time you went into a real fight, with blood being shed and the fear of death in the air?"
"I do"
"The moves are the same, but the difference is wider than the Great Green. Love is like that, Helikaon. You can spend time with a whore and laugh and know great pleasure. But when love strikes--- ah, the difference is awesome. You will find more joy in the touch of a hand or the sight of a smile than you could ever experience in a hundred nights of passion with anyone else. The sky will be more blue, the sun more bright. Ah, I am missing my Penelope tonight”
― David Gemmell, quote from Lord of the Silver Bow


“Oh boy. I do have a question.”
“Hit me,” Breeze smiled. “That is slang.” The smile died. “Don’t really hit me though. You couldn’t hurt me but I might hit you back and that would injure you.”
― Laurann Dohner, quote from Fury


Interesting books

The Group
(10.7K)
The Group
by Mary McCarthy
Taint
(9.9K)
Taint
by S.L. Jennings
MacRieve
(21.3K)
MacRieve
by Kresley Cole
Dear Killer
(3.8K)
Dear Killer
by Katherine Ewell
The Perfectionists
(7.4K)
The Perfectionists
by Sara Shepard
Kingdom of the Golden Dragon
(11.2K)
Kingdom of the Golde...
by Isabel Allende

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.