James Weldon Johnson Quotes & Sayings

“The peculiar fascination which the South held over my imagination and my limited capital decided me in favor of Atlanta University; so about the last of September I bade farewell to the friends and scenes of my boyhood and boarded a train for the South.”

“You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There's a world waiting for you, Yours is the quest that's just begun.”

“It is a struggle; for though the black man fights passively, he nevertheless fights; and his passive resistance is more effective at present than active resistance could possibly be. He bears the fury of the storm as does the willow tree.”

“It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character.”

“Labor is the fabled magician's wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune.”

“Amsterdam was a great surprise to me. I had always thought of Venice as the city of canals; it had never entered my mind that I should find similar conditions in a Dutch town.”

“She was my first love, and I loved her as only a boy loves.”

“There are a great many colored people who are ashamed of the cake-walk, but I think they ought to be proud of it.”

“Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.”

“The Southern whites are in many respects a great people. Looked at from a certain point of view, they are picturesque. If one will put oneself in a romantic frame of mind, one can admire their notions of chivalry and bravery and justice.”