"And so for a couple of years my life was divided between my music and my school books." — James Weldon Johnson

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

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

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.

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.