African American Quotes

African American Quote of the day

I have written a song that says: If you ever lose someone dear to you, never say the words, "They're gone," and they'll come back.

The thing to do is to get organized; keep separated and you will be exploited, you will be robbed, you will be killed. Get organized and you will compel the world to respect you.

If you can be the best, then why not try to be the best?

No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it.

There must always be a remedy for wrong and injustice if we only know how to find it.

Never wound a snake; kill it.

You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.

It is extremely rough to follow through with my goals, but I felt a responsibility to show the world what the African Americans are facing through this rough patch.

I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.

It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.

Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough.

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.

One of the things that has to be faced is the process of waiting to change the system, how much we have got to do to find out who we are, where we have come from and where we are going.

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.

Don't let the same dog bite you twice.

I early conceived a liking for, and sought every opportunity to relieve the sufferings of others.

I'm not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call myself a diner. Sitting at the table doesn't make you a diner.

There's not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.

Differences can be a strength.

What you do to-day that is worthwhile, inspires others to act at some future time.

Don't take yourself too seriously. Know when to laugh at yourself, and find a way to laugh at obstacles that inevitably present themselves.

Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the moment.

What they call you is one thing. What you answer to is something else.

The possible has been tried and failed. Now it's time to try the impossible.

Stop using the word 'Negro.' The word is a misnomer from every point of view. It does not represent a country or anything else ... I am an African-American.

There are more African Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850 a decade before the civil war began.

I have this ability to find this hidden talent in people that sometimes even they didn't know they had.

Nothing came easy. I was just born with a need to explore every part of my mind. And with long searching and hard work, I became devoted to my restlessness.

I knew well that the only way I could get that door open was to knock it down; because I knocked all of them down.

The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible

They throw the ball, I hit it. They hit the ball, I catch it.

One of the greatest pleasures of my life has been that I have never stopped learning about Good Cooking and Good Food

Your wealth can be stolen, but the precious riches buried deep in your soul cannot.

Black painters have done all kinds of work. It's the treatment of forms they engage in-that's what determines the value of the work, not whether you call them a black artist or not.

There's a category for me. I like to be referred to as a good singer of good songs in good taste.

Regardless of what you play, the biggest thing is keeping the feel going.

I believe in individuality, that everybody is special, and it's up to them to find that quality and let it live.

A goal without a plan is a wish.

It appears that my worst fears have been realised: we have made progress in everything yet nothing has changed.

When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone, in the air. You can never capture it again.

Great men cultivate love...only little men cherish a spirit of hatred

It's not what you achieve in life, but who you become as a person due to those achievements.

Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form.

I am the dream and the hope of the slave

Black women have been cultured to compare not connect.

I am not ashamed of my grandparents for having been slaves. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time being ashamed.

A violinist had a violin, a painter his palette. All I had was myself. I was the instrument that I must care for.

According to the American Heart Association, the prevalence of hypertension in African Americans in the United States is among the highest in the world.

Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it.

I am convinced that the Black man will only reach his full potential when he learns to draw upon the strengths and insights of the Black woman.