Say to them, say to the down-keepers, the sun-slappers, the self-soilers, the harmony-hushers, "Even if you are not ready for day it cannot always be night." You will be right. For that is the hard home-run. Live not for battles… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
“Surely--But I am very off from that. From surely. From indeed. From the decent arrow that was my clean naivete and my faith. This morning, men deliver wounds and death. They will deliver death and wounds tomorrow. And I doubt… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
Very early in life I became fascinated with the wonders language can achieve. And I began playing with words. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
I've always thought of myself as a reporter. When people ask why I don't stop writing, I say, `Look at what's happening in this… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
She was afraid to suggest to him that to most people, nothing "happens." That most people merely live from day to day until they… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
A writer should get as much education as possible, but just going to school is not enough; if it were, all owners of doctorates… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
Reading is important - read between the lines. Don't swallow everything. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
The forties and fifties were years of high poet-incense; the language-flowers were thickly sweet. Those flowers whined and begged white folks to pick them,… — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
It frightens me to realize that, if I had died before the age of fifty, I would have died a 'Negro' fraction. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
One reason cats are happier than people is that they have no newspapers. — Gwendolyn Brooks Copy Share Image
