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One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

Booker T. Washington

To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man, who is their next-door neighbor, I would say ‘Cast down your bucket where you are.’
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Men Race White
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Inspirational Life Success
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Essential Progress Purity Separate
My whole life has largely been one of surprises.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Become Life Surprise Whole
No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Poem Prosperity Race Writing
Men may make laws to hinder and fetter the ballot, but men cannot make laws that will bind or retard the growth of manhood.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Growth Law Man Stop
There is no escape – man drags man down, or man lifts man up.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Escape Help Man
We shall prosper as we learn to do the common things of life in an uncommon way. Let down your buckets where you are.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Buckets Common Way
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Black History Hands Kwanzaa
There is no defense or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Defense Development Highest
The individual who can do something that the world wants done will, in the end, make his way regardless of his race.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

End Himself Race Regard Willing World
You may fill your heads with knowledge or skillfully train your hands, but unless it is based upon high, upright character, upon a true heart, it will amount to nothing. You will be no better than the most ignorant.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Character Hands Heart
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Hope Life Success
The individual who can do something that the world wants done will, in the end, make his way regardless of his race.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Country Individual People Race World
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Attention Life Success
An inch of progress is worth more than a yard of complaint.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Complain Value Worth
One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Himself Hold Man
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Knowing Leader Political
No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Contribution Degree Market Race
I shall never permit myself to stoop so low as to hate any man.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Hate Men Permit
The time will come when the Negro in the South will be accorded all the political rights which his ability, character, and material possessions entitle him to.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Ability Character Himself Politics Possession Right Time
The longer I live and the more experience I have of the world, the more I am convinced that, after all, the one thing that is most worth living for-and dying for, if need be-is the opportunity of making someone else more happy.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Dying Life Opportunity
We shall prosper as we learn to do the common things of life in an uncommon way. Let down your buckets where you are.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Learning Life Prosperity Way Yourself
We must reinforce argument with results.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Argument Country People Results
Great men cultivate love and only little men cherish a spirit of hatred; assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Cherish Cultivation Greatness Love Strong Weakness
Dignify and glorify common labor. It is at the bottom of life that we must begin, not at the top.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Bottom Common Labor
Success waits patiently for anyone who has the determination and strength to seize it.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Determination Waiting

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

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One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

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