Booker T. Washington

“Too often, it seems to me, in missionary and educational work among underdeveloped races, people yield to the temptation of doing that…

— Booker T. Washington

The actual sight of a first-class house that a Negro has built is ten times more potent than pages of discussion about…

— Booker T. Washington

No one can degrade us except ourselves.

— Booker T. Washington

You must understand the troubles of that man farthest down before you can help him.

— Booker T. Washington

Leaders have devoted themselves to politics, little knowing, it seems that political independence disappears without economic independence that economic independence is the…

— Booker T. Washington

The happiest people are those who do the most for others. The most miserable are those who do the least.

— Booker T. Washington

An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction.

— Booker T. Washington

You go to school, you study about the Germans and the French, but not about your own race. I hope the time…

— Booker T. Washington

If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother.

— Booker T. Washington

No white American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized until he wears the white man’s clothes, eats the white…

— Booker T. Washington

“I do not wish to give the impression by what I have said that, behind all the intemperance and extravagance of these…

— Booker T. Washington

“I am afraid that there is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don’t want the patient to get well, because as…

— Booker T. Washington

“From his example in this respect, I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a…

— Booker T. Washington

It means a great deal, I think, to start off on a foundation which one has made for oneself.

— Booker T. Washington

Of all forms of slavery there is none that is so harmful and degrading as that form of slavery which tempts one…

— Booker T. Washington

“The ambition to secure an education was most praiseworthy and encouraging. The idea, however, was too prevalent that, as soon as one…

— Booker T. Washington

“Before the end of the year, I think I began learning that those who are happiest are those who do the most…

— Booker T. Washington

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

— Booker T. Washington

A race, like an individual, lifts itself up by lifting others up.

— Booker T. Washington

The circumstances that surround a man's life are not important. How that man responds to those circumstances IS IMPORTANT. His response is…

— Booker T. Washington

“never liked the atmosphere of Washington. I early saw that it was impossible to build up a race of which the leaders…

— Booker T. Washington

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

— Booker T. Washington

“My experience has been that the time to test a true gentleman is to observe him when he is in contact with…

— Booker T. Washington

There is a certain class of race problem-solvers who don't want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease…

— Booker T. Washington

“In dealing with newspaper people, whether they are white or black, there is no way of getting their sympathy and support like…

— Booker T. Washington