Quotes from Booker T. Washington

The world cares little about what a man knows;it cares more about what a man is able to do.

Success always leaves footprints.

I early learned that it is a hard matter to convert an individual by abusing him, and that this is more often accomplished by giving credit for all the praiseworthy actions performed than by calling attention alone to all the evil done.

Great men cultivate love and only little men cherish a spirit of hatred; assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.

The longer I live and the more experience I have of the world, the more I am convinced that, after all, the one thing that is most worth living for-and dying for, if need be-is the opportunity of making someone else more happy.

Success is not measured by the position one has reached in life, rather by the obstacles one overcomes while trying to succeed

I would permit no man, no matter what his color might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you have to overcome to reach your goals.

In order to be successful in any undertaking, I think the main thing is for one to grow to the point where he completely forgets himself; that is, to lose himself in a great cause. In proportion as one loses himself in this way, in the same degree does he get the highest happiness out of his work.

It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of those privileges.

Decide to be your best. In the long run the world is going to want and have the best and that might as well be you.

Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him.

There is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.

I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has overcome trying to succeed.

Each one should remember there is a chance for him.

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

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

Great men cultivate love...only little men cherish a spirit of hatred

I shall never permit myself to stoop so low as to hate any man.

The circumstances that surround a man's life are not important. How that man responds to those circumstances IS IMPORTANT. His response is the ultimate determining factor between success and failure.

We do not want the men of another color for our brothers-in-law, but we do want them for our brothers.

Men may make laws to hinder and fetter the ballot, but men cannot make laws that will bind or retard the growth of manhood.

Educated men and women, especially those who are in college, very often get the idea that religion is fit only for the common people. No young man or woman can make a greater error than this.