You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries. Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard' Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise. . Maya Angelou
About This Quote

Despite all the struggles and hardships, the great poet Langston Hughes was able to rise above his circumstances and make a place for himself in American society. He was able to find the beauty in his life despite all the pain he experienced. Hughes was born in 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. At a young age, he suffered from polio that left him partially paralyzed.

His mother died when he was 15. He went on to attend college at Fisk University in Tennessee only to leave after only one semester due to financial hardships. Later, he attended Howard University in Washington D.C.

where he became a member of the school's first graduating class in 1925. In 1926, Hughes published "X" magazine which featured essays and poetry by black writers. In 1930, Hughes published his most famous work "The Weary Blues," a collection of poems that were influenced by both African-American folk songs and classical literature.

The poem "The Weary Blues" is a classic example of the style of writing that would later become known as "lyric poetry." After its publication, Hughes became a well-known figure among African-Americans with its themes of racial pride and freedom from oppression. In 1939, Hughes began working with the Federal Writers' Project where he spent years traveling throughout the South researching African-American history for his book "Stowe: A Documentary Study of Harriet Beecher Stowe." In 1946, Hughes received an honorary doctorate from Fisk University and in 1949 received both a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and a Guggenheim Fellowship for Poetry. In 1951, Hughes met Shirley Graham in Washington D.C.

She became his wife in 1952 and they remained together until his death in 1967.

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  1. I don't trust people who don't love themselves and tell me, 'I love you.' ... There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.
  2. Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.
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  4. First best is falling in love. Second best is being in love. Least best is falling out of love. But any of it is better than never having been in love.
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