Paul Laurence Dunbar Quotes

28 Sourced Quotes

When hit comes to real right singin',
'T ain't no easy thing to do.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
This, this it is to be accursed indeed;
For if we mortals love, or if we sing,
We count our joys not by what we have,
But by what kept us from the perfect thing.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
An Angel, robed in spotless white,
Bent down and kissed the sleeping Night.
Night woke to blush; the sprite was gone.
Men saw the blush and called it Dawn.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Slight was the thing I bought, small was the debt I thought, Poor was the loan at best - God! but the interest!

Paul Laurence Dunbar
There is no rebel like Nature. She is an iconoclast.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Folks ain't got no right to censuah othah folks about dey habits.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
I found you and I loved you,
And all the world was mine.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Taking it all in all and after all, negro life in Washington is a promise rather than a fulfillment. But it is worthy of note for the really excellent things which are promised

Paul Laurence Dunbar
If the muse were mine to tempt it
And my feeble voice were strong,
If my tongue were trained to measures,
I would sing a stirring song.
I would sing a song heroic
Of those noble sons of Ham,
Of the gallant colored soldiers
Who fought for Uncle Sam!

Paul Laurence Dunbar
What Joe Hamilton lacked more than anything else in the world was some one to kick him. Many a man who might have lived decently and become a fairly respectable citizen has gone to the dogs for the want of some one to administer a good resounding kick at the right time. It is corrective and clarifying.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Oh, dere's lots o' keer an' trouble
In dis world to swaller down;
An' ol' Sorrer's purty lively
In her way o' gittin' roun'.
Yet der's times when I furgit 'em,—
Aches an' pains an' troubles all,—
An' it's when I tek at ebenin'
My ol' banjo f'om de wall.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Hope is tenacious. It goes on living and working when science has dealt it what should be its deathblow.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Oh, how with more than dreams the soul is torn, ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
There is a heaven, for ever, day by day,
The upward longing of my soul doth tell me so.
There is a hell, I'm quite as sure; for pray,
If there were not, where would my neighbors go?

Paul Laurence Dunbar
It's easy 'nough to titter w'en de stew is smokin' hot, But hit's mighty ha'd to giggle w'en dey's nuffin' in de pot.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Washington is the city where the big men of little towns come to be disillusioned

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Wearily I sit and listen
To the water's ceaseless drip.
To my lip
Fate turns up the bitter cup,
Forcing me to sip;
'Tis a bitter, bitter drink,
Thus I sit and think.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
It's all a farce, - these tales they tell About the breezes sighing, And moans astir o'er field and dell, Because the year is dying.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Why, de 'lectric light o' Heaven
Seems to settle on de spot,
When yo' mammy says de blessin'
An' de co'n pone's hot.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
We reduce the deity to vulgar fractions. We place our own little ambitions and label them "divine messages". With our short sight we affect to take a comprehensive view of eternity.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
It is a little dark still, but there are warnings of the day and somewhere out of the darkness a bird is singing to the Dawn.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Because you love me I have much achieved,
Had you despised me then I must have failed,
But since I knew you trusted and believed,
I could not disappoint you and so prevailed.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,
You are soft as the nesting dove.
Come to my heart and bring it rest
As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in. A minute to smile and an hour to weep in. A pint of joy to a peck of trouble, And never a laugh but the moans come double. And that is life. A crust and a corner that makes love precious, With a smile to warm and tears to refresh us, And joy seems sweeter when cares come after, And a moan is the finest of foils for laughter. And that is life.

Paul Laurence Dunbar
A song fluttered down in the form of a dove,
And it bore me a message, the one word-Love!

Paul Laurence Dunbar
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Since thou and those who died with thee for right Have died, the Present teaches, but in vain!

Paul Laurence Dunbar
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core...
I know why the caged bird sings!

Paul Laurence Dunbar