"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 j…"

"I look at the world from awakening eyes in a black face—and this is what I see."

"Perhaps the most interesting thing about Negroes is that they are so much like everybody else."

"I've been a dishwasher, a cook, a busboy, a waiter, a laundress, a delivery boy, a truck driver, a chauffeur, a gardener, a bellhop, a doorman, a houseman, a janitor, a porter, a longshoreman, a seama…"

"I built my house near the sea. I built my house near the sea. And I love the sea. And I love the sea. And I love the sea."