--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My experience in life tells me that the…" description: "\"My experience in life tells me that the values that are now being labeled 'conservative' are the only way that blacks can get ahead.\" — Shelby Steele" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/786/shelby-steele-3370_conservative_my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the_615135.png" --- # My experience in life tells me that the values that are… ![“My experience in life tells me that the values that are now being labeled 'conservative' are the only way that blacks can get ahead.” quote by Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/786/shelby-steele-3370_conservative_my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the_615135.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/786/shelby-steele-3370_conservative_my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the_615135.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/786/shelby-steele-3370_conservative_my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the_615135.png) > “My experience in life tells me that the values that are now being labeled 'conservative' are the only way that blacks can get ahead.” [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker argues that conservative values are the most effective path for African Americans to achieve progress. **In simple terms:** Conservatism seen as key to black advancement. Key Takeaway Consider how values shape opportunity. Themes race politics ideology Mood analytical provocative Type sociopolitical ideological When to use this quote - education - employment - community leadership Key Concepts social mobility conservative philosophy Questions to Reflect On - What policies best support black advancement? - Can conservatism address racial inequities? A Different Perspective Values alone may not address systemic barriers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conservative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conservative/) [Experience In Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experience-in-life/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) ## Related quotes > [Even as someone who's labeled a conservative - I'm a Republican I'm black, I'm heading up this organization in the Reagan administration - I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clarence-thomas/even-as-someone-who-s-labeled-a-conservative-i-m-a-republican-i-m/) [Clarence Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clarence-thomas/) > [I'm conservative. I was raised conservative, and that's the way I will vote.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-alexis/i-m-conservative-i-was-raised-conservative-and-that-s-the-way-i-will/) [Kim Alexis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-alexis/) > [The base that Donald Trump is speaking to are not that conservative, at least not the way conservatives have defined themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hayes/the-base-that-donald-trump-is-speaking-to-are-not-that-conservative/) [Chris Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hayes/) > [If you must go to a negative place of power, go to them in a very conservative way. You must go to them when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/if-you-must-go-to-a-negative-place-of-power-go-to-them-in-a-very/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Where I live in Manhattan and where I work at ABC, people say conservative the way people say child molester.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stossel/where-i-live-in-manhattan-and-where-i-work-at-abc-people-say/) [John Stossel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stossel/) > [If you do it in a conservative way, I'm not completely opposed to waist training.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-dubrow/if-you-do-it-in-a-conservative-way-i-m-not-completely-opposed-to/) [Terry Dubrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-dubrow/) > [I grew up on a farm, and I think I would have come back and done something like that. 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When your only human experience in life is through the TV, it warps your sense of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-j-crane/seen-another-living-soul-in-years-except-mom-when-your-only-human/) [Robert J. Crane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-j-crane/) > [“There are different kinds of love you experience in life. Loving someone differently doesn't mean loving a person less than you love someone else.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nely-cab/there-are-different-kinds-of-love-you-experience-in-life-loving/) [Nely Cab](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nely-cab/) > [No matter what you experience in life, it incorporates political tendencies, and in so many ways.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lydon/no-matter-what-you-experience-in-life-it-incorporates-political/) [John Lydon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lydon/) > [Experience in life is my number one source of my learning in this world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kc/experience-in-life-is-my-number-one-source-of-my-learning-in-this/) KC > [Stand-up is my foundation. That's where it started at. And I love it because it's personal. It's mine. It's all me. It's my experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracy-morgan/stand-up-is-my-foundation-that-s-where-it-started-at-and-i-love-it/) [Tracy Morgan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracy-morgan/) > [“Reality has a way of bursting the bubble of illusion, and an affair is one of the biggest illusions that anyone can experience in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/reality-has-a-way-of-bursting-the-bubble-of-illusion-and-an-affair-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Shelby Steele > [When blacks become humanly visible, when their true beliefs are known, their mask shatters and their symbiotic bond with whites is broken.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/when-blacks-become-humanly-visible-when-their-true-beliefs-are-known/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [I alienated myself from the academic world almost entirely because it's a left-wing world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/i-alienated-myself-from-the-academic-world-almost-entirely-because-it/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [Freedom is just freedom. It is a condition, not an agent of change. It does not develop or uplift those who win it. Freedom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/freedom-is-just-freedom-it-is-a-condition-not-an-agent-of-change-it/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [In Vietnam, America fought one whose communism was driven by an underlying nationalism, the desire to live free of the West. Whatever one may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/in-vietnam-america-fought-one-whose-communism-was-driven-by-an/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [Our great presidents have been stewards, men who broadly identified with the whole of America.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/our-great-presidents-have-been-stewards-men-who-broadly-identified/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [No doubt Israel and America have made mistakes in the Middle East. Certainly, Israel was born at the price of considerable dislocation and suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/no-doubt-israel-and-america-have-made-mistakes-in-the-middle-east/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [And if you want to make many of our black leaders angry, just tell them that racism is not the number problem that black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/and-if-you-want-to-make-many-of-our-black-leaders-angry-just-tell/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [Thomas Sowell, among many others, has articulated the power of individual responsibility as an antidote to black poverty for over 40 years. Black thinkers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/thomas-sowell-among-many-others-has-articulated-the-power-of/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton cannot write a timeless letter to us from a Birmingham jail or walk, as John Lewis did in 1965,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/jesse-jackson-and-al-sharpton-cannot-write-a-timeless-letter-to-us/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [My father bought three ramshackle houses, rebuilt them, rented them out, kept clawing his way up the ladder. A man with a third grade…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/my-father-bought-three-ramshackle-houses-rebuilt-them-rented-them-out/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [Whatever I'm doing, I try to write well. I try to give the reader a nice, clean well-written surface, where the writing is transparent.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/whatever-i-m-doing-i-try-to-write-well-i-try-to-give-the-reader-a/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [We have laws on the books. If somebody's discriminating against you, I strongly advocate suing them. That's the most effective thing you can do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/we-have-laws-on-the-books-if-somebody-s-discriminating-against-you-i/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [The first thing I ever heard about Barack Obama was that he had a white mother and a black father. Interestingly, the person who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/the-first-thing-i-ever-heard-about-barack-obama-was-that-he-had-a/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [Racism is endemic to the human condition, just as stupidity is. We will always have to be on guard against it. But now it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/racism-is-endemic-to-the-human-condition-just-as-stupidity-is-we-will/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) > [Without an ugly America to loathe, there is no automatic esteem to receive. Thus liberalism's unrelenting current of anti-Americanism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/without-an-ugly-america-to-loathe-there-is-no-automatic-esteem-to/) [Shelby Steele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) [Explore all 132 Shelby Steele quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/) ## More Conservative quotes > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [There's no authoritarian structure at Reed College, but the education is conservative. So what you have is a lot of students who are very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-miller/there-s-no-authoritarian-structure-at-reed-college-but-the-education/) [Donald Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-miller/) > [Progressive Conservative candidates from Quebec want to exert real power in Ottawa, not simply be content with playing a secondary role.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-campbell/progressive-conservative-candidates-from-quebec-want-to-exert-real/) [Kim Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-campbell/) > [Play small ball. Get back to basics. I would say that you need to be a conservative, but you need to maintain your independent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-tantaros/play-small-ball-get-back-to-basics-i-would-say-that-you-need-to-be-a/) [Andrea Tantaros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-tantaros/) > [I am a conservative type of person, so sometimes when I'm chilling with myself, people always come ask me, 'What's wrong with you? What…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-wonder/i-am-a-conservative-type-of-person-so-sometimes-when-i-m-chilling/) [Wayne Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-wonder/) > [In the Tea Party era, it is the restless conservative Republican who has become passion's plaything, the toy of impetuous romance, an erotomania only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-wolcott/in-the-tea-party-era-it-is-the-restless-conservative-republican-who/) [James Wolcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-wolcott/) > [I'm a principle liberty, rule-of-law Conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erin-o-toole/i-m-a-principle-liberty-rule-of-law-conservative/) [Erin O'Toole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erin-o-toole/) > [I would say I'm a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, if that contradiction can make sense, because in Bolivia, we have a great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gonzalo-sanchez-de-lozada/i-would-say-i-m-a-fiscal-conservative-and-a-social-liberal-if-that/) [Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gonzalo-sanchez-de-lozada/) > [My dad's quite a conservative person, and he brought me up to be very questioning of the commercial world. He looked down on pop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marina-and-the-diamonds/my-dad-s-quite-a-conservative-person-and-he-brought-me-up-to-be-very/) [Marina and the Diamonds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marina-and-the-diamonds/) > [To all conservative women out there: If you are so sure the embryo needed for stem cell research are precious human life that can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/to-all-conservative-women-out-there-if-you-are-so-sure-the-embryo/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [There are a lot of conservative people, a lot of moderate people, Republicans, Democrats, in Hollywood. It is just that the conservative people by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clint-eastwood/there-are-a-lot-of-conservative-people-a-lot-of-moderate-people/) [Clint Eastwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clint-eastwood/) > [“Those who consider themselves ‘Conservative’ frequently identify with family values, so they should consider carefully the fact that in 1960, only 18% of women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-befumo/those-who-consider-themselves-conservative-frequently-identify-with/) [Joseph Befumo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-befumo/) > [A faithfully kept program of savings and conservative investments can give you more money and a better life than that of your neighbors who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-bryant-quinn/a-faithfully-kept-program-of-savings-and-conservative-investments-can/) [Jane Bryant Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-bryant-quinn/) > [Conservative political opinion in America cleaves to the tradition of the judge as passive interpreter, believing that his absolute loyalty to authoritative law is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/learned-hand/conservative-political-opinion-in-america-cleaves-to-the-tradition-of/) [Learned Hand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/learned-hand/) > [Conservative feminism is such an artificial term that doesn't mean much to me. For me conservatism means accepting reality. I acknowledge that there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristina-schroder/conservative-feminism-is-such-an-artificial-term-that-doesn-t-mean/) [Kristina Schroder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristina-schroder/) [Browse all 2,995 Conservative quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conservative/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My experience in life tells me that the values that are now being labeled 'conservative' are the only way that blacks can get ahead.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Shelby Steele" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the-values-that-are-now-being/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Conservative" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the-values-that-are-now-being/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/786/shelby-steele-3370_conservative_my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the_615135.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/786/shelby-steele-3370_conservative_my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the_615135.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/786/shelby-steele-3370_conservative_my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the_615135.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“My experience in life tells me that the values that are now being labeled 'conservative' are the only way…” — Shelby Steele", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Shelby Steele", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shelby-steele/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "My experience in life tells me...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the-values-that-are-now-being/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shelby-steele/my-experience-in-life-tells-me-that-the-values-that-are-now-being/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```