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

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

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.

Character is power.

Each one should remember there is a chance for him.

I think I have learned that the best way to lift one’s self up is to help someone else.

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

Start where you are with what you have, knowing that what you have is plenty enough.

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

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

It often requires more courage to suffer in silence than to rebel, more courage not to strike back than to retaliate, more courage to be silent than to speak.

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.

You know, a balance-sheet is like a bikini, it shows more but it hides what is vital. I learnt to read a balance sheet and then I got fascinated by stocks.

How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man.

I often think flowers are the angels’ alphabet whereby they write on hills and fields mysterious and beautiful lessons for us to feel and learn.

Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight, And burned is Apollo’s laurel bough, That sometime grew within this learned man. Faustus is gone.

I read novels but I also read the Bible. And study it, you know? And the more I learn, the more excited I get.

You can’t deny what you’ve learned; you can’t deny your travels; you can’t deny the nature of your life.

One cannot scold or complain at every word. Learn to endure patiently, or else, as I live and breathe, you shall learn it whether you want or not.

It is from the level of calamities, not that of every-day life, that we learn impressive and useful lessons.