Booker T. Washington Quotes

Progress, progress is the law of nature; under God it shall be our eternal guiding star.

In the long run, the world is going to have the best, and any difference in race, religion, or previous history will not keep the world from what it wants.

The circumstances that surround a man's life are not important. How that man responds to those circumstances IS IMPORTANT. His response is the ultimate determining factor between success and failure.

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

A life is not worth much of which it cannot be said, when it comes to its close, that it was helpful to humanity.

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

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.

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

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

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.

In proportion as one renders service he becomes great.

Great men cultivate love and only little men cherish a spirit of hatred; assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.

It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of those privileges.

A sure way for one to lift himself up is by helping to lift someone else.

The time will come when the Negro in the South will be accorded all the political rights which his ability, character, and material possessions entitle him to.

If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.

We must reinforce argument with results.

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.

If you truly want to measure the success of a man, you do not measure it by a position he has achieved, but by the obstacles he has overcome.

I let no man drag me down so low as to make me hate him.

You must understand the troubles of that man farthest down before you can help him.

The actual sight of a first-class house that a Negro has built is ten times more potent than pages of discussion about a house that he ought to build, or perhaps could build.

I pity from the bottom of my heart any individual who is so unfortunate as to get into the habit of holding race prejudice, for nothing else makes one so blind and narrow.

Don't ever let them pull you down so low as to hate them. (also cited as: I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.)

There is no escape - man drags man down, or man lifts man up.

An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction.

It means a great deal, I think, to start off on a foundation which one has made for oneself.

Mere connection with what is known as a superior race will not permanently carry an individual forward unless the individual has worth.

Each one should remember there is a chance for him.

The negro has within him immense power for self-uplifting, but for years it will be necessary to guide and stimulate him.

Do not do that which others can do as well.

My whole life has largely been one of surprises.

A race, like an individual, lifts itself up by lifting others up.

Let our opportunities overshadow our grievances.

No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized.

We shall prosper as we learn to do the common things of life in an uncommon way. Let down your buckets where you are.

I shall allow no man to belittle 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.

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

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.

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

Any man's life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day.

There is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.

I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

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 overcome while trying to succeed.