Mary McLeod Bethune Quotes

Believe in yourself, learn, and never stop wanting to build a better world.

A woman is free if she lives by her own standards and creates her own destiny, if she prizes her individuality and puts no boundaries on her hopes for tomorrow.

If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves. We should, therefore, protest openly everything ... that smacks of discrimination or slander.

We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends.

I leave you love. I leave you hope. I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another. I leave you respect for the use of power. I leave you faith. I leave you racial dignity.

Next to God we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth living.

Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.

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.

Our children must never lose their zeal for building a better world.

Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough.

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.

Enter to learn; depart to serve.

The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.

The true worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood.

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.

The drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest while there is a single Negro boy or girl without a chance to prove his worth.

Education is the great American adventure, the world's most colossal democratic experiment.

The progress of the world will call for the best that all of us have to give.

World peace and brotherhood are based on a common understanding of the contributions and cultures of all races and creeds

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.

For I am my mother's daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.

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.

Forgiving is not about forgetting, it's letting go of the hurt

Knowledge is the prime need of the hour.

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.

When they learn of Shakespeare and Goethe, we must teach them of Pushkin and Dumas. . . . Whatever the white man has done, we have done, and often better.

Whatever glory belongs to the race for a development unprecedented in history for the given length of time, a full share belongs to the womanhood of the race.

From the first, I made my learning, what little it was, useful every way I could.

You white folks have long been eating the white meat of the chicken. We Negroes are now ready for some of the white meat instead of the dark meat.

I never stop to plan. I take things step-by-step.

[To the patronizing train conductor who had twice said, 'Auntie, give me your ticket':] Which of my sister's sons are you?

Greatness is largely a social accident, and almost always socially supported.

Cease to be a drudge, seek to be an artist.

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.

Without faith nothing is possible. With it nothing is impossible.

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.

Invest in the human soul. Who knows it might be a diamond in the rough.

Cease to be a drudge seek to be an artist.

Next to God we are indebted to women first for life itself and then for making it worth living.

Whatever glory belongs to the race for a development unprecedented in history for the given length of time a full share belongs to the womanhood of the race.

From the first I made my learning what little it was useful every way I could.

We have a powerful potential in out youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends.

Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.