Booker T. Washington

“We do not want the men of another color for our brothers-in-law, but we do want them for our brothers.”

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

“There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life.”

“The individual who can do something that the world wants done will, in the end, make his way regardless of his race.”

“Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”

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

“A lie doesn't become truth, wrong doesn't become right, and evil doesn't become good, just because it's accepted by a majority.”

“I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.”

“Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”

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

“We do not want the men of another color for our brothers-in-law, but we do want them for our brothers.”

“Character, not circumstances, makes the man.”

“I think I have learned that the best way to lift one's self up is to help someone else.”

“There is no power on earth, that can neutralize the influence of a high, pure, simple and useful life.”

“The world cares very little what you or I know, but it does care a great deal about what you or I do.”

“Of all forms of slavery there is none that is so harmful and degrading as that form of slavery which tempts one human being to hate another by reason of his race or color. One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.”

“If you can't read, it's going to be hard to realize dreams.”

“In any country, regardless of what its laws say, wherever people act upon the idea that the disadvantage of one man is the good of another, there slavery exists. Wherever, in any country the whole people feel that the happiness of all is dependent upon the happiness of the weakest, there freedom exists.”

“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”

“There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.”

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.”

“There is no escape — man drags man down, or man lifts man up.”

“Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.”

“You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.”

“Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.”

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

“From some things that I have said one may get the idea that some of the slaves did not want freedom. This is not true. I have never seen one who did not want to be free, or one who would return to slavery.”

“Character is power.”

“I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred. I learned that assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; and that oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.”

“There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.”

“I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.”

“Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the every day things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon.”

“Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.”

“No greater injury can be done to any youth than to let him feel that because he belongs to this or that race he will be advanced in life regardless of his own merits or efforts.”

“Nothing ever comes to me, that is worth having, except as the result of hard work.”

“One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.”

“Cast down your bucket where you are.”

“If you can't read, it's going to be hard to realize dreams.”

“In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.”

“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.”

“No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top.”

“We must reinforce argument with results.”

“No man who continues to add something to the material, intellectual, and moral well-being of the place in which he lives is long left without proper reward.”

“No man, who continues to add something to the material, intellectual and moral well-being of the place in which he lives, is left long without proper reward.”

“My whole life has largely been one of surprises. I believe that any man's life will be filled with constant, unexpected encouragements of this kind if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day of his life — that is, tries to make each day reach as nearly as possible the high-water mark of pure, unselfish, useful living.”

“To hold a man down, you have to stay down with him.”

“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”

“I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.”

“Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”

“You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.”

“Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.”

“No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”

“Dignify and glorify common labor. It is at the bottom of life that we must begin, not at the top.”

“Character, not circumstances, makes the man.”