Pleasured Equally In Seeking As In Finding,

Humor Is Laughing At What You Haven't Got When You Ought To Have It.

We Younger Negro Artists Who Create Now Intend To Express Our Individual Dark-skinned Selves Without Fear Or Shame. If White People Are Pleased, We Are Glad. If They Are Not, It Doesn't Matter. We Know We Are Beautiful. And Ugly Too. The Tom-tom Cries And The Tom-tom Laughs. If Colored People Are Pleased, We Are Glad. If They Are Not, It Doesn't Matter Either. We Build Our Temples For Tomorrow, Strong As We Know How, And We Stand On Top Of The Mountain, Free Within Ourselves.

If You Want To Honor Me, Give Some Young Boy Or Girl Who's Coming Along Trying To Create Arts And Write And Compose And Sing And Act And Paint And Dance And Make Something Out Of The Beauties Of The Negro Race-give That Child Some Help.

Though You May Hear Me Holler, And You May See Me Cry-- I'll Be Dogged, Sweet Baby, If You Gonna See Me Die.

When A Man Starts Out To Build A World, He Starts First With Himself