“I believe that my race will succeed in proportion as it learns to do a common thing in an uncommon manner; learns to do a thing so thoroughly that no one can improve upon what it has done; learns to make its services of indispensable value.”

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.

Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.

Success is not measured by where you are in life, but the obstacles you’ve over come.

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

The racist rhetoric from politicians is inspiring people to organize, as more people see what happens by not getting active.

We are fighting for an unapologetic movement for economic, social, and racial justice in the United States.

A race, like an individual, lifts itself up by lifting others up.

I predict the future of this earthly human race is that having made a mess of Earth they’ll move to outer space.

There is no such thing as talking about class without there being implications of the racial history of the United States. You just can’t do it.

No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.

I still think people do have racial hang-ups, but I think one of the reasons I can joke about it is people are shedding those racial hatreds.