Black Inspirational Quotes

When I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don't invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

You are young, gifted, and Black. We must begin to tell our young, There's a world waiting for you, Yours is the quest that's just begun.

Always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody says distract you from your goals.

Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.

Whatever we believe about ourselves and our ability comes true for us.

The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.

One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings.

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.

One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don't invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

I refuse to accept the view . . . that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

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.

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.

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.

Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

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.

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

Every great dream begins with a dreamer.

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.

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.

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.