Booker T. Washington Quotes

“Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities.”

“There is no defence or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all.”

“I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed.”

“In order to be successful in any kind of undertaking, I think the main thing is for one to grow to the point where he completely forgets himself; that is, to lose himself in a great cause.”

“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.”

“Great men cultivate love, and only little men cherish a spirit of hatred.”

“Every persecuted individual and race should get much consolation out of the great human law, which is universal and eternal, that merit, no matter under what skin found, is in the long run, recognized and rewarded.”

“My experience is that there is something in human nature which always makes an individual recognize and reward merit, no matter under what colour of skin merit is found.”

“I believe that any man's life will be filled with constant, unexpected encouragements if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day of his life.”

“I pity from the bottom of my heart any individual who is so unfortunate as to get into the habit of holding race prejudice.”

“I have found that it is the visible, the tangible, that goes a long way in softening prejudices.”

“I have learned to love labour, not alone for its financial value, but for labour's own sake and for the independence and self-reliance which the ability to do something which the world wants done brings.”

“Out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth.”

“I would rather be what I am, a member of the Negro race, than be able to claim membership with the most favoured of any other race.”

“At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be for our race economic independence.”

“Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands.”

“Men may make laws to hinder and fetter the ballot, but men cannot make laws that will bind or retard the growth of manhood.”

“We have cleared the forests, reclaimed the land, and are building cities, railroads, and great institutions.”

“The world needs to know of what mettle these people are built.”

“I can not find half a dozen cases of a man or woman who has completed a full course of education in any of our reputable institutions who are imprisoned.”

“I was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia.”

“My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings.”

“From the time that I can remember having any thoughts about anything, I recall that I had an intense longing to learn to read.”

“I resolved that I would never be satisfied until I secured enough education to enable me to read common books and newspapers.”

“We wanted to give them such a practical knowledge of some one industry, together with the spirit of industry, thrift, and economy, that they would be sure of knowing how to make a living after they had left us.”