Greatness is largely a social accident, and almost always socially supported.
Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.
Believe in yourself, learn, and never stop wanting to build a better world.
We live in a world which respects power above all things. Power, intelligently directed, can lead to more freedom. Unwisely directed, it can be a dreadful, destructive force.
Enter to learn; depart to serve.
The progress of the world will call for the best that all of us have to give.
If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.
Education is the great American adventure, the world’s most colossal democratic experiment.
There is a place in God’s sun for the youth “farthest down” who has the vision, the determination, and the courage to reach it.
I thought, maybe the difference between white folks and colored is just this matter of reading and writing. I made up my mind I would know my letters.
Knowledge is the prime need of the hour.
Cease to be a drudge, seek to be an artist.
I have had more than half a century of such happiness. A great deal of worry and sorrow, too, but never a worry or a sorrow that was not offset by a purple iris, a lark, a bluebird, or a dewy morning glory.
Whatever the white man has done, we have done, and often better.
I do feel, in my dreamings and yearnings, so undiscovered by those who are able to help me.
I never stop to plan. I take things step-by-step.
World peace and brotherhood are based on a common understanding of the contributions and cultures of all races and creeds.
Forgiving is not about forgetting, it’s letting go of the hurt.
Studying goes deeper than mere reading. There are surface nuggets to be gathered but the best of the gold is underneath, and it takes time and labor to secure it.
From the first, I made my learning, what little it was, useful every way I could.