Gwendolyn Brooks Quotes

June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000

Gwendolyn Brooks (7 June 1917 – 3 December 2000) was an American poet. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Literature for her book of poems Annie Allen.

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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.

Speech to the Young : Speech to the Progress-Toward

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More Gwendolyn Brooks Quotes

It is brave to be involved To be not fearful to be unresolved.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "do not be afraid of no" from Annie Allen (1949)

Tags: brave, involved, fearful, unresolved

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Art hurts. Art urges voyages and it is easier to stay at home.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "The Chicago Picasso" (1968)

Tags: Art, hurts, urges, voyages, easier, stay, home

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Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There is a preference for candy bars.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "Song for Winnie"

Tags: palatable, There, preference, candy, bars

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Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold it will not come Again in this identical guise.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "exhaust the little moment" from Annie Allen (1949)

Tags: little, moment, Soon, dies, gash, gold, Again, identical, guise

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The WEs in "We Real Cool" are tiny, wispy, weakly argumentative "Kilroy-is-here" announcements. The boys have no accented sense of themselves, yet they are aware of a semi-defined personal importance. Say the "We" softly.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— Report from Part One (1972)

Tags: We, Real, Cool, tiny, wispy, weakly, argumentative, announcements, boys

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When I start writing a poem, I don't think about models or about what anybody else in the world has done.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "An Interview with Gwendolyn Brooks", Contemporary Literature 11:1 (Winter 1970)

Tags: When, start, writing, poem, think, models, what, anybody, world

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A writer should get as much education as possible, but just going to school is not enough; if it were, all owners of doctorates would be inspired writers.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— Report From Part One (1972)

Tags: writer, education, possible, going, school, enough, owners, inspired, writers

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As you get older, you find that often the wheat, disentangling itself from the chaff, comes out to meet you.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— Report From Part One (1972)

Tags: you, older, find, often, wheat, disentangling, chaff, meet

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Art is a refining and evocative translation of the materials of the world.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— Black Poetry Writing (1975)

Tags: Art, refining, evocative, translation, materials, world

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Be careful what you swallow. Chew!

Gwendolyn Brooks
— Advice to graduates, Buena Vista University Graduation (1995)

Tags: careful, what, you, swallow, Chew

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I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— My Soul Looks Back, 'Less I Forget (1995) by Dorothy Winbush Riley

Tags: writer, talker

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I am interested in telling my particular truth as I have seen it.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— Quoted in her obituary in The Guardian (7 December 2000)

Tags: interested, telling, truth, seen

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To be in love Is to touch with a lighter hand. In yourself you stretch, you are well.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "To Be In Love"

Tags: love, touch, lighter, hand, yourself, you, stretch

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He is not there but You know you are tasting together The winter, or a light spring weather. His hand to take your hand is overmuch. Too much too bear.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "To Be In Love"

Tags: there, You, know, tasting, together, winter, light, spring, weather

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I shall not sing a May song. A May song should be gay. I'll wait until November And sing a song of gray.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "The Crazy Woman"

Tags: sing, May, song, gay, wait, November, gray

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And all the little people Will stare at me and say, "That is the Crazy Woman Who would not sing in May."

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "The Crazy Woman"

Tags: little, people, stare, me, Crazy, Woman, Who, sing, May

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I hold my honey and I store my bread In little jars and cabinets of my will. I label clearly, and each latch and lid I bid, Be firm till I return from hell.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell"

Tags: hold, honey, store, bread, little, jars, cabinets, label, latch

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Already you're on Page 8.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "Thinking of Elizabeth Steinberg"

Tags: Page, 8

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consider the big fists breaking your little bones, or consider the vague bureaucrats stumbling, fumbling through Paper.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "Thinking of Elizabeth Steinberg"

Tags: consider, big, fists, breaking, little, bones, vague, bureaucrats, stumbling

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Is earnest enough, may earnest attract or lead to light; Is light enough, if hands in clumsy frenzy, flimsy whimsically, enlist; Is light enough when this bewilderment crying against the dark shuts down the shades? Dilute confusion. Find and explode our mist.

Gwendolyn Brooks
— "garbageman: the man with the orderly mind"

Tags: earnest, enough, may, attract, lead, light, hands, clumsy, frenzy

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