Quote

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, to find them lovable. Then the '60s: Independent fire!

Gwendolyn Brooks

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Gwendolyn Brooks
Age: 83 †
Born: 1917
Born: June 7
Died: 2000
Died: December 3
Novelist
Poet
Teacher
Writer
Topeka
Kansas
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks
Literature
Picks
Forties
White
Folks
Begged
Language
Independent
Fifties
Find
Flower
Incense
Years
Poet
Lovable
Sweet
Forty
Fire
Flowers
Whined
High
Pick
Thickly

More quotes by Gwendolyn Brooks

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And if sun comes / How shall we greet him? / Shall we not dread him, / Shall we not fear him / After so lengthy a / Session with shade?
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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 world. Every day there's something exciting or disturbing to write about.’ With all that's going on, how could I stop?
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It frightens me to realize that, if I had died before the age of fifty, I would have died a 'Negro' fraction.
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Each body has its art.
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Very early in life I became fascinated with the wonders language can achieve. And I began playing with words.
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I don't like the idea of the black race being diluted out of existence. I like the idea of all of us being here.
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It is brave to be involved
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Even if you are not ready for day it cannot always be night.
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My last defense / Is the present tense.
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Do not desire to fit in. Desire to oblige yourselves to lead.
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Do not be afraid of no, Who has so far, so very far to go.
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Poetry is life distilled.
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We are each other's magnitude and bond.
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Reading is important - read between the lines. Don't swallow everything.
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She was learning to love moments. To love moments for themselves.
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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.
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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.
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The poetry is myself.
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Live not for Battles Won. Live not for The-End-of-the-Song. Live in the along.
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Don't let anyone call you a minority if you're black or Hispanic or belong to some other ethnic group. You're not less than anybody else.
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