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Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.
Oct 1, 2025
In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.
I have observed this in my experience of slavery, that whenever my condition was improved, instead of increasing my contentment; it only increased my desire to be free, and set me thinking of plans to gain my freedom.
The United States has been called the melting pot of the world. But it seems to me that the colored man either missed getting into the pot or he got melted down.
Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us.
For I am my mother's daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.
The thing about black history is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up.
you must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.
When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving up.
I refuse to accept the view . . . that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
You really can change the world if you care enough.
Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.
It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.
For Africa to me... is more than a glamorous fact. It is a historical truth. No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.
The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at.
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.
Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face.
Black people have always been America's wilderness in search of a promised land.
I am the dream and the hope of the slave
We are the ones we've been waiting for.
In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.
No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.
Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise. I rise. I rise.
What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.
Where there is no vision, there is no hope.
The potential for greatness lives within us all.
I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that's how I operate my life.
Do not call for black power or green power. Call for brain power.
Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.
I don't want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.
The time is always right to do what is right.
I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.
The past is a ghost, the future a dream, and all we ever have is now.
Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Hate is too great a burden to bear.
we are the ones we have been waiting for
Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.
You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off of you.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
Unconditional love will have the final word in reality.
Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.
No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.