“I believe that any man’s life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement, if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day, and as nearly as possible reaching the high-water mark of pure and useful living.”

No greater injury can be done to any youth than to let him feel that because he belongs to this or that race he will be advanced in life regardless of his own merits or efforts.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

The thing to do when one feels sure that he has said or done the right thing and is condemned, is to stand still and keep quiet. If he is right, time will show it.

It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of those privileges.

Leaders have devoted themselves to politics, little knowing, it seems that political independence disappears without economic independence that economic independence is the foundation of political independence.

Ignorance is more costly to any State than education.

Dignify and glorify common labor. It is at the bottom of life that we must begin, not at the top.

Let our opportunities overshadow our grievances.

The individual who can do something that the world wants done will, in the end, make his way regardless of his race.

Remember that everyone’s life is measured by the power that individual has to make the world better-this is all life is.

We all should rise, above the clouds of ignorance, narrowness, and selfishness.

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.

The universe is too grand and harmonious to believe it’s all an accident.

When you believe in your dream and your vision, then it begins to attract its own resources. No one was born to be a failure.

I believe that a worthwhile life is defined by a kind of spiritual journey and a sense of obligation.

He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.

We can believe in the future and work to achieve it and preserve it, or we can whirl blindly on, behaving as if one day there will be no children to inherit our legacy. The choice is ours; the earth is in balance.

I still believe in a place called Hope.

It’s one thing to lie to ourselves. It’s another thing to believe it.

I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.