Booker T. Washington

“Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.”

“I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.”

“If they really believe there is danger from the Negro, it must be because they do not intend to give him justice.”

“In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.”

“No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.”  [Up from Slavery]

“There are two ways of exerting one's strength:  one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.”

“There was never a time in my youth, no matter how dark and discouraging the days might be, when one resolve did not continually remain with me, and that was a determination to secure an education at any cost.”  [Up from Slavery]

“You can't hold a man down without staying down with him.”