Quote

Make yourself as happy as possible, and try to make those happy whose lives come in touch with yours. But to attempt to right the wrongs and cease the sufferings of the world in general is a waste of effort.

James Weldon Johnson

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

James Weldon Johnson
Age: 67 †
Born: 1871
Born: June 17
Died: 1938
Died: June 26
Author
Composer
Diplomat
Jurist
Lawyer
Novelist
Poet
Politician
Songwriter
Writer
Jacksonville
Florida
J. W. Johnson
Trying
Whose
Make
Effort
Wrongs
World
Possible
Sufferings
Suffering
Attempt
Happy
Cease
Lives
Touch
Come
Waste
Right
General

More quotes by James Weldon Johnson

Image
So God stepped over to the edge of the world And He spat out the seven seas He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled And the waters above the earth came down, The cooling waters came down.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
The fortress inspired a tremendous confidence. It was the only propeller driven aircraft I have flown that was completely viceless there were no undesirable flight characteristics. The directional stability was excellent and, properly trimmed, the B-17 could be taken off, landed and banked without change of trim.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
...evil is a force and, like the physical and chemical forces, we cannot annihilate it we may only change its form. We light upon one evil and hit it with all the might of our civilization, but only succeed in scattering it into a dozen of other forms
James Weldon Johnson
Image
I'm lonely I'll make me a world.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
It’s no disgrace to be black, but it’s often very inconvenient.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
But I must own that I also felt stirred by an unselfish desire to voice all the joys and sorrows, the hopes and ambitions, of the American Negro, in classic musical form.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
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.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
This country can have no more democracy than it accords and guarantees to the humblest and weakest citizen.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
This Great God, Like a mammy bending over her baby, Kneeled down in the dust Toiling over a lump of clay Till He shaped it in His own image.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
...one of the best things about running is that no matter how fast you've run in the past, running fast in the future does not come easily or with any guarantees.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
As I look back now I can see that I was a perfect little aristocrat.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
And God stepped out on space, and He looked around and said: I'm lonely - I'll make me a world.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
At a very early age I began to thump on the piano alone, and it was not long before I was able to pick out a few tunes? I also learned the names of the notes in both clefs, but I preferred not be hampered by notes.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
Northern white people love the Negro in a sort of abstract way, as a race through a sense of justice, charity, and philanthropy, they will liberally assist in his elevation.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
Through my music teaching and my not absolutely irregular attendance at church, I became acquainted with the best class of colored people in Jacksonville.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
And so for a couple of years my life was divided between my music and my school books.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
My mother was kept very busy with her sewing sometimes she would have another woman helping her.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
In the life of everyone there is a limited number of experiences which are not written upon the memory, but stamped there with a die and in the long years after, they can be called up in detail, and every emotion that was stirred by them can be lived through anew these are the tragedies of life.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
Americans are immensely popular in Paris and this is not due solely to the fact that they spend lots of money there, for they spend just as much or more in London, and in the latter city they are merely tolerated because they do spend.
James Weldon Johnson
Image
In Berlin I especially enjoyed the orchestral concerts, and I attended a large number of them. I formed the acquaintance of a good many musicians, several of whom spoke of my playing in high terms.
James Weldon Johnson