She was my first love, and I loved her as only a boy loves.

Quote by James Weldon Johnson

Topics: James Weldon Johnson Quotes

Any musical person who has never heard a Negro congregation under the spell of religious...

Any musical person who has never heard a Negro congregation under the spell of religious...

There are a great many colored people who are ashamed of the cake-walk, but I...

There are a great many colored people who are ashamed of the cake-walk, but I...

Amsterdam was a great surprise to me. I had always thought of Venice as the...

Amsterdam was a great surprise to me. I had always thought of Venice as the...

I believe it to be a fact that the colored people of this country know...

I believe it to be a fact that the colored people of this country know...

As yet, the Negroes themselves do not fully appreciate these old slave songs.

As yet, the Negroes themselves do not fully appreciate these old slave songs.

Washington shows the Negro not only at his best, but also at his worst.

Washington shows the Negro not only at his best, but also at his worst.

I thought of Paris as a beauty spot on the face of the earth, and...

I thought of Paris as a beauty spot on the face of the earth, and...

Through my music teaching and my not absolutely irregular attendance at church, I became acquainted...

Through my music teaching and my not absolutely irregular attendance at church, I became acquainted...

It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its...

It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its...

You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There's a...

You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There's a...

Labor is the fabled magician's wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune.

Labor is the fabled magician's wand, the philosophers stone, and the cap of good fortune.

Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.

Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.

I do not see how a people that can find in its conscience any excuse...

I do not see how a people that can find in its conscience any excuse...

Shortly after this I was made a member of the boys' choir, it being found...

Shortly after this I was made a member of the boys' choir, it being found...

In Berlin I especially enjoyed the orchestral concerts, and I attended a large number of...

In Berlin I especially enjoyed the orchestral concerts, and I attended a large number of...

Americans are immensely popular in Paris; and this is not due solely to the fact...

Americans are immensely popular in Paris; and this is not due solely to the fact...

The Southern whites are in many respects a great people. Looked at from a certain...

The Southern whites are in many respects a great people. Looked at from a certain...

My luck at the gambling table was varied; sometimes I was fifty to a hundred...

My luck at the gambling table was varied; sometimes I was fifty to a hundred...

Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.

Young man, young man, your arm's too short to box with God.

But I must own that I also felt stirred by an unselfish desire to voice...

But I must own that I also felt stirred by an unselfish desire to voice...