Sterling Allen Brown Quotes

9 Sourced Quotes

Whippersnapper clerks
Call us out our name
We got to say mister
To spindling boys
They make our figgers
Turn somersets
We buck in the middle
Say, "Thankyuh, sah."
They don't come by ones
They don't come by twos
But they come by tens.

Sterling Allen Brown
Swing dat hammer—hunh—
Steady, bo';
Ain't no rush, bebby,
Long ways to go.

Sterling Allen Brown
Talkinges' guy
An' biggest liar,
With always a new lie
On the fire.

Sterling Allen Brown
I don't know which way I'm travelin'—
Far or near,
All I knows fo' certain is
I cain't stay here.

Sterling Allen Brown
They dragged you from homeland,
They chained you in coffles,
They huddled you spoon-fashion in filthy hatches.
They sold you to give a few gentlemen ease.

Sterling Allen Brown
The strong men keep a-comin' on
The strong men git stronger.

Sterling Allen Brown
Honey
When de man
Calls out de las' train
You're gonna ride,
Tell him howdy.

Sterling Allen Brown
Brother,
When, beneath the burning sun
The sweat poured down and the breath came thick,
And the loaded hammer swung like a ton
And the heart grew sick;
You had what we need now, John Henry.
Help us get it.
So if we go down
Have to go down
We go like you, brother,
"Nachal" men...

Sterling Allen Brown
In the broken down car
They jounce up and down
Pretend to be steering
On the way to town.
It's as far as they'll get
For many a year;
Cotton brought them
And will keep them here.

Sterling Allen Brown