Holding a grudge does not hurt the person against whom the grudge is held, it hurts the one who holds it.

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Start where you are with what you have, knowing that what you have is plenty enough.

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Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

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There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.

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Most leaders spend time trying to get others to think highly of them, when instead they should try to get their people to think more highly of themselves. It's wonderful when the people believe in their leader. It's more wonderful when the leader believes in their people! You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.

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No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.

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An inch of progress is worth more than a yard of complaint.

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

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Of all forms of slavery there is none that is so harmful and degrading as that form of slavery which tempts one human being to hate another by reason of his race or color. One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.

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If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

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