What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore -
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over -
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes

Harlem

Read Harlem at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

Broken dreams Dreams

Author

Langston Hughes

Source

Harlem

Medium

Poem

Statement Type

Question

Language

English

Time

1951 1950s 20th century

Occupation

Black writer Black poet Poet Writer

From

United States

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hughes, Langston. "Harlem." Montage of a Dream Deferred. Holt, 1951.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Langston Hughes about broken dreams: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in…”
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A quote by Langston Hughes about broken dreams: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in…”
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A quote by Langston Hughes about broken dreams: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in…”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote from the 1950s

I have here in my hand a list of 205... A list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department.

Joseph McCarthy

More information about this quote
Topic
Red Scare Cold War Communism American politics
Speaker
Joseph McCarthy
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Language
English
Time
1950 1950s 20th century
Authentication Score 2
Citation

McCarthy, Joseph. "Enemies from Within." Republican's Women's Club meeting. 9 Feb. 1950, Wheeling, WV, USA. Speech.

Another quote of the following type Question

If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him?

Abraham Lincoln

Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln

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Read this speech at UVA's Miller Center website
More information about this quote
Topic
American Civil War Slavery American politics God and America
Speaker
Abraham Lincoln
Source
Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln Presidential inaugural address
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech
Statement Type
Question
Language
English
Time
1865 1860s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Second Inaugural Address." 4 Mar. 1865, East Portico, US Capitol Building, Washington, DC, USA.

Current Citation

Lincoln, Abraham. "Second Inaugral Address, March 4, 1865." Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859-1865, edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher. Library of America, 2018.