26
No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
Booker T. Washingtonverified·Address at the Atlanta Cotton States Exposition, in Up from Slavery·September 18, 1895
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Attribution
27
I learned that assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; and that oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak.
Attribution contested
Circulated everywhere as if you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else, which appears in none of Washington's books, addresses or letters. This is the sentence in Up from Slavery it compresses. The paraphrase is not unfair, but it is not a quotation, and it drops the second half -- the claim that oppressing the unfortunate makes the oppressor weak -- which is the part he was actually arguing.
28
At that institution I got my first taste of what it meant to live a life of unselfishness, my first knowledge of the fact that the happiest individuals are those who do the most to make others useful and happy.
29
Nothing ever comes to me, that is worth having, except as the result of hard work.
30
If we would be great, and good, and useful, we must pay the price. And remember that when we get down to the fundamental principles of truth, nature draws no colour line.
31
Your life will be wasted if you go away from here and have not learned that the greatest lesson of all is the lesson of brotherly love, of usefulness and of charity.
32
Our ability to make the world better depends entirely upon our ability to use every opportunity to make ourselves better.
33
The whole of arithmetic now appeared within the grasp of mechanism. A vague glimpse even of an Analytical Engine at length opened out, and I pursued with enthusiasm the shadowy vision.
34
It is Lucretian pleasure to behold the poor drudges, whom I have left behind in the world, carking and caring; like horses in a mill, drudging on in the same eternal round--and what is it all for?
35
The basic condition of human life is union; the organic social relation, the interchange of functional service, wherein the individual is most advantaged, not by his own exertions for his own goods, but by the exchange of his exertions with the exertions of others for goods produced by them together.
36
The inevitable trend of human life is toward higher civilization.
37
To be surrounded by beautiful things has much influence upon the human creature: to make beautiful things has more.
38
Language is our largest common medium, and leads on into literature, which is but preserved speech.
39
The more you are and the more you do, the richer your life, the greater your joy.
40
Be determined to get up, to reach the highest goal you have in view, and you will.
41
If I associate not with these people,-- with mankind,-- with whom shall I associate?
42
If I’m going to fall, I don’t want to fall back on anything, except my faith.
43
So get out there. Give it everything you’ve got—whether it’s your time, your talent, your prayers, or your treasure.
44
I’ve found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks.
45
I want to fall… forward. At least I figure that way I’ll see what I’m about to hit.
46
So I ask you today: How many ghosts are going to be around your bed when your time comes?
47
You’ll never see a U-haul behind a hearse.
48
Your life will never be a straight path.
49
Dreams without goals are just dreams, and they ultimately fuel disappointment.
50
At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction: that a nation exists to serve its citizens.