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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

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
Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Common Excellence Way
It means a great deal, I think, to start off on a foundation which one has made for oneself.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Deal Foundation Greatness Myself Start Thinking
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
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Architect Build Discussion Home Sight Strong
My whole life has largely been one of surprises.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Life Oneself Surprise
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
Lay hold of something that will help you, and then use it to help somebody else.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Generosity Help Hold Kindness
Each one should remember there is a chance for him.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Chance Himself Remember
There is no escape – man drags man down, or man lifts man up.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Escape Help Man
In the long run, the world is going to have the best, and any difference in race, religion, or previous history will not keep the world from what it wants.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Best Different History Race Willing World
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Exercise Important Preparation Privilege Right
The negro has within him immense power for self-uplifting, but for years it will be necessary to guide and stimulate him.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Guide Himself Necessary Position
Character is power.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Character One Liner Power
An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

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

Help Himself Place Responsibility Trust Yourself
Great men cultivate love, only little men cherish a spirit of hatred.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Cherish Cultivation Greatness Hate Love Spirit
The circumstances that surround a man’s life are not important. How that man responds to those circumstances IS IMPORTANT. His response is the ultimate determining factor between success and failure.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Circumstance Determination Factor Failure Important Life Man Success Surround
From some things that I have said one may get the idea that some of the slaves did not want freedom. This is not true. I have never seen one who did not want to be free, or one who would return to slavery.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Freedom Ideas Myself Return Slave
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
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 Remote Small Success
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Courage Rebel Silence Suffering
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
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Beginning Ideas Oneself Patience 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
An inch of progress is worth more than a yard of complaint.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Complain Value Worth
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.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

Heart Nation People Slave Unfortunate

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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