Mary McLeod Bethune Quotes

38 quotes in 483 categories

• Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.
• Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough.
• The true worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood.
• We have a powerful potential in out youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct…
• The drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest while there is a single Negro boy or girl without…
• The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.
• Whatever glory belongs to the race for a development unprecedented in history for the given length of time, a full share belongs to the womanhood…
• What does the Negro want? His answer is very simple. He wants only what all other Americans want. He wants opportunity to make real what…
• Knowledge is the prime need of the hour.
• I plunged into the job of creating something from nothing.... Though I hadn't a penny left, I considered cash money as the smallest part of…
• Cease to be a drudge, seek to be an artist.
• We live in a world which respects power above all things. Power, intelligently directed, can lead to more freedom. Unwisely directed, it can be a…
• There is a place in God's sun for the youth "farthest down" who has the vision, the determination, and the courage to reach it.
• Studying goes deeper than mere reading. There are surface nuggets to be gathered but the best of the gold is underneath, and it takes time…
• Enter to learn; depart to serve.
• The progress of the world will call for the best that all of us have to give.
• Whatever the white man has done, we have done, and often better.
• For I am my mother's daughter, and...
• When they learn of Shakespeare and Goethe, we must teach them of Pushkin and Dumas. . . . Whatever the white man has done, we…
• I do feel, in my dreamings and yearnings, so undiscovered by those who are able to help me.

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