“We shall never secure emancipation from the tyranny of the white oppressor until we have achieved it in our own souls.”

Most men in this world are colored. A belief in humanity means a belief in colored men. The future world will, in all reasonable probability, be what colored men make it.

Men must not only know, they must act.

All womanhood is hampered today because the world on which it is emerging is a world that tries to worship both virgins and mothers and in the end despises motherhood and despoils virgins.

No universal selfishness can bring social good to all.

I insist that the object of all true education is not to make men carpenters, it is to make carpenters men.

The main thing is the YOU beneath the clothes and skin–the ability to do, the will to conquer, the determination to understand and know this great, wonderful, curious world.

Ignorance is a cure for nothing.

Believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader, and fuller life.

The kind of sermon which is preached in most colored churches is not today attractive to even fairly intelligent men.

A classic is a book that doesn’t have to be written again.

Either America will destroy ignorance or ignorance will destroy the United States.

Herein lies the tragedy of the age: Not that men are poor, – all men know something of poverty. Not that men are wicked, – who is good? Not that men are ignorant, – what is truth? Nay, but that men know so little of men.

The cause of war is preparation for war.

In 1956, I shall not go to the polls. I have not registered. I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no ‘two evils’ exist. There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say.

Whiteness is ownership of the earth.

It is the wind and the rain, O God, the cold and the storm that make this earth of yours to blossom and bear its fruit. So in our lives it is storm and stress and hurt and suffering that make real men and women bring the world’s work to its highest perfection.

One of the great undiscovered joys of life comes from doing everything one attempts to the best of one’s ability. The smallest task, well done, becomes a miracle of achievement.

With no goals, no priorities, no life strategy of our own, we drift with the herd through an endless meadow of mediocrity, unable to break loose, to achieve even a small part of the dreams we once cherished.

Nothing limits achievement like small thinking; nothing expands possibilities like unleashed imagination.

Enthusiasm is the match that lights the candle of achievement.

Only when our clever brain and our human heart work together in harmony can we achieve our true potential.

You can choose to see your goal with 20/20 accuracy, and when you can see a goal that clearly, you can achieve it.

We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.

You will achieve your grand dream, a day at a time, so set goals for each day.