“Lay hold of something that will help you, and then use it to help somebody else.”

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

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.

I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed.

Those who have accomplished the greatest results are those who never grow excited or lose self-control, but are always calm, self-possessed, patient and polite.

You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you have to overcome to reach your goals.

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

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

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.

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

The happiest people are those who do the most for others. The most miserable are those who do the least.

No one can degrade us except ourselves.

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

I shall never permit myself to stoop so low as to hate any man.

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

An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction.

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.

When Love gives, it gives all; when it takes, it takes all. It’s very taking is giving.

When we are being kind to someone, we are being kind to ourselves too.

The heart of the giver makes the gift dear and precious.

A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.

Alms in secret extinguish the wrath of the Lord’ means you are so immersed in sincerity and in preserving that sincerity that you have no pleasure in giving alms.

Art is both the taking and giving of beauty, the turning out to the light of the inner folds of the awareness of the spirit.

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.

Logic and cold reason are poor weapons to fight fear and distrust. Only faith and generosity can overcome them.