James Weldon Johnson Quotes
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Any musical person who has never heard a Negro congregation under the spell of religious fervor sing these old songs has missed one of the most thrilling emotions which the human heart may experience.
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When we arrived in London, my sadness at leaving Paris was turned into despair. After my long stay in the French capital, huge, ponderous, massive London seemed to me as ugly a thing as man could contrive to make.
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Find Sister Caroline...And she's tired—She's weary—Go down, Death, and bring her to me.
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You sang far better than you knew; the songsThat for your listeners’ hungry hearts sufficedStill live,-but more than this to you belongs:You sang a race from wood and stone to Christ.
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Southern white people despise the Negro as a race, and will do nothing to aid in his elevation as such; but for certain individuals they have a strong affection, and are helpful to them in many ways.
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The glory of the day was in her face,The beauty of the night was in her eyes.And over all her loveliness, the graceOf Morning blushing in the early skies.
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And God smiled again,And the rainbow appeared,And curled itself around his shoulder.
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Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst.
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My appearance was always good and my ability to play on the piano, especially ragtime, which was then at the height of its vogue, made me a welcome guest.
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Whose starward eyeSaw chariot 'swing low'? And who was heThat breathed that comforting, melodic sigh,'Nobody knows de trouble I see'?
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There are a great many colored people who are ashamed of the cake-walk, but I think they ought to be proud of it.
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My luck at the gambling table was varied; sometimes I was fifty to a hundred dollars ahead, and at other times I had to borrow money from my fellow workmen to settle my room rent and pay for my meals.
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So God stepped over to the edge of the worldAnd He spat out the seven seas;He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed;He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled;And the waters above the earth came down,The cooling waters came down.
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I believe it to be a fact that the colored people of this country know and understand the white people better than the white people know and understand them.
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She was my first love, and I loved her as only a boy loves.
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Some men enjoy the constant strifeOf days with work and worry rife,But that is not my dream of life:I think such men are crazy.For me, a life with worries few,A job of nothing much to do,Just pelf enough to see me through:I fear that I am lazy.
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And God stepped out on space,And He looked around and said,'I'm lonely—I'll make me a world.'
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The battle was first waged over the right of the Negro to be classed as a human being with a soul; later, as to whether he had sufficient intellect to master even the rudiments of learning; and today it is being fought out over his social recognition.
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Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.
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Father, Father Abraham,To-day look on us from above;On us, the offspring of thy faith,The children of thy Christ-like love.
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How would you have us, as we are?Or sinking 'neath the load we bear?Our eyes fixed forward on a star?Or gazing empty at despair?
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We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered.
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It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character.
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Shortly after this I was made a member of the boys' choir, it being found that I possessed a clear, strong soprano voice. I enjoyed the singing very much.