“A reading man and woman is a ready man and woman, but a writing man and woman are exact.”

Intelligence rules the world, ignorance carries the burden.

Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm.

The whole world is run on bluff. No race, no nation, no man has any divine right to take advantage of others. Why allow the other fellow to bluff you?

Take advantage of every opportunity; where there is none, make it for yourself, and let history record that as we toiled laboriously and courageously, we worked to live gloriously.

At no time within the last five hundred years can one point to a single instance of the Negro as a race of haters.

You must not mistake lip service and noise for bravery and service.

If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.

The history of a movement, the history of a nation, the history of a race is the guide-post of that movement’s destiny, that nation’s destiny, that race’s destiny.

I have no desire to take all black people back to Africa; there are blacks who are no good here and will likewise be no good there.

Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm, look for me all around you, for, with God’s grace, I shall come and bring with me countless millions of black slaves who have died in America.

A man’s bread and butter is only insured when he works for it.

If we as a people realized the greatness from which we came we would be less likely to disrespect ourselves.

When all else fails to organize the people, conditions will.

What you do today that is worthwhile, inspires others to act at some future time.

Every man has a right to his own opinion. Every race has a right to its own action; therefore let no man persuade you against your will, let no other race influence you against your own.

Liberate the minds of men and ultimately you will liberate the bodies of men.

Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

If you spend any time with a man, you’ll realize that we’re all still little boys.

Weakness’ is weakness only in light of the aims man sets for himself, the instruments at his disposal and the laws he imposes.

Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with absolute truth.

Woman wants control, man self-control.

From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned.

Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands – two equally harmful disciplines.

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.