“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.”

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.

The way I see it, a person isn’t nothing more than a scarecrow… The only difference between one that stands up good and one that blows over is what kind of a stick they’re stuck up there on.

I don’t want to talk about methods of killing. But what is the difference between a bomb worn on the body and one dropped from an airplane? Both of them kill people.

The better part of valor is to spend it learning to live with differences, however hostile, unless and until we can find another planet.

The difference between ordinary and extra-ordinary is so often just simply that little word – extra.

I take a cliche and try to organize its forms to make it monumental. The difference is often not great, but it is crucial.

There’s a huge difference in the attitude of the people of the United States of America toward women in politics. It has taken an enormous turn toward equality.

Evolutionary circles are one of the key social forms in which people are connecting and can connect to make a difference throughout the world.

There is a wide difference between true courage and a mere contempt of life.