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The longer I live and the more I study the question, the more I am convinced that it is not so much the problem of what you will do with Negro, as what the Negro will do with you and your ‘civilization’.

Booker T. Washington

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

Inspirational Inspiring Success
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Accomplishment Greatness Patience Polite Result
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
You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you have to overcome to reach your goals.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Accomplishment Goal Measurement Obstacle Reach
You go to school, you study about the Germans and the French, but not about your own race. I hope the time will come when you study black history too.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Black Ethnic History Myself Race Time
A sure way for one to lift himself up is by helping to lift someone else.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Helping Lifts Way
I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred. I resolved then that I would permit no man, no matter what his color, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Color Hate Men
Let our opportunities overshadow our grievances.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Grievance Opportunity
The highest test of the civilization of any race is in its willingness to extend a helping hand to the less fortunate.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Civilization Fortunate Hands Help Race Test Willing
Success always leaves footprints.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Country Footprint People Success
If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Empowerment Yourself
There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Earth Influence Life Power Simplicity
No white American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized until he wears the white man’s clothes, eats the white man’s food, speaks the white man’s language, and professes the white man’s religion.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Civilization Man Race Religion Thinking White
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
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

Head Heart Ignorance Knowledge Skills Training Yourself
Whenever your life touches mine, you make me stronger of weaker… there is no escape… people drag others or lift others up.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Escape Life People Strong Touch Weakness Yourself
The man who has learned to do something better than anyone else, has learned to do a common thing in an uncommon manner, is the man who has a power and influence that no adverse circumstances can take from him.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Determination Men Success
The longer I live and the more I study the question, the more I am convinced that it is not so much the problem of what you will do with Negro, as what the Negro will do with you and your ‘civilization’.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Civilization Live Problem Question Study
If you truly want to measure the success of a man, you do not measure it by a position he has achieved, but by the obstacles he has overcome.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Achievement Himself Man Measurement Position Success True
Character, not circumstances, makes the man.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Character Circumstance Man
We all should rise, above the clouds of ignorance, narrowness, and selfishness.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Clouds Ignorance Selfishness
Political activity alone cannot make a man free. Back of the ballot, he must have property, industry, skill, economy, intelligence, and character.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Character Men Skill
An inch of progress is worth more than a yard of complaint.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Inches Progress Yards
Holding a grudge does not hurt the person against whom the grudge is held, it hurts the one who holds it.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Country Grudge Hurt People
We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Beat Borrow Language Occasion Vocabulary Word
We must reinforce argument with results.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Argument Country People Results
Mere connection with what is known as a superior race will not permanently carry an individual forward unless the individual has worth.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Carry Connection Race Superior Worth

The longer I live and the more I study the question, the more I am convinced that it is not so much the problem of what you will do with Negro, as what the Negro will do with you and your ‘civilization’.

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The longer I live and the more I study the question, the more I am convinced that it is not so much the problem of what you will do with Negro, as what the Negro will do with you and your ‘civilization’.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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