You must understand the troubles of that man farthest down before you can help him.
Holding a grudge does not hurt the person against whom the grudge is held, it hurts the one who holds it.
I believe that my race will succeed in proportion as it learns to do a common thing in an uncommon manner; learns to do a thing so thoroughly that no one can improve upon what it has done; learns to make its services of indispensable value.
Ignorance is more costly to any State than education.
Progress, progress is the law of nature; under God it shall be our eternal guiding star.
My whole life has largely been one of surprises.
Men may make laws to hinder and fetter the ballot, but men cannot make laws that will bind or retard the growth of manhood.
To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next-door neighbor, I would say ‘Cast down your bucket where you are.’
I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get entangled in the net of slavery.
Success waits patiently for anyone who has the determination and strength to seize it.
Educated men and women, especially those who are in college, very often get the idea that religion is fit only for the common people. No young man or woman can make a greater error than this...
Mere connection with what is known as a superior race will not permanently carry an individual forward unless the individual has worth.
We shall prosper as we learn to do the common things of life in an uncommon way. Let down your buckets where you are.
There is no defense or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all.
Many strikes and similar disturbances might be avoided if the employers would cultivate the habit of getting nearer to their employees, of consulting and advising with them, and letting them feel that the interests of the two are the same.
If no other consideration had convinced me of the value of the Christian life, the Christ like work which the Church of all denominations in America has done during the last 35 years for the elevation of the black man would have made me a Christian.
A race, like an individual, lifts itself up by lifting others up.
I believe that one always does himself and his audience an injustice when he speaks merely for the sake of speaking. I do not believe that one should speak unless, deep down in his heart, he feels convinced that he has a message to deliver.
Never let your work drive you. Master it and keep it in complete control.
I early learned that it is a hard matter to convert an individual by abusing him, and that this is more often accomplished by giving credit for all the praiseworthy actions performed than by calling attention alone to all the evil done.