26
The beginning of wise living lies in the control of the brain by the will; so that the brain may act according to the precepts which the brain itself gives.
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27
The brain can be disciplined by learning the habit of obedience.
28
In the realm of time there is no aristocracy of wealth, and no aristocracy of intellect.
29
If you are not prepared for discouragements and disillusions; if you will not be content with a small result for a big effort, then do not begin.
30
My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.
Barbara Jordanverified·Statement in the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry·July 25, 1974
31
God helps them that help themselves, as Poor Richard says.
Attribution contested
Quoted constantly as scripture. It is nowhere in the Bible, which says something close to the opposite in several places. Franklin printed it in Poor Richard's Almanack and gathered it here in 1758, but he did not coin it either: he presents it as an existing proverb, and versions of it appear in Algernon Sidney's Discourses in 1698 and, earlier still, in Aesop.
32
Drive thy business, let not that drive thee; and early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise, as Poor Richard says.
Attribution contested
Franklin made the proverb famous and is now given it outright, but he did not write it. It is recorded in English more than a century before he was born, in the Book of St Albans in 1496 and in John Clarke's proverb collection of 1639. Franklin's own contribution is the half nobody quotes: drive thy business, let not that drive thee.
33
While my care was employ'd in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason.
34
The oath taken in the presence of the people becomes a mutual covenant.
35
Cast down your bucket where you are.
36
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
37
It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities.
Booker T. Washingtonverified·Address at the Atlanta Cotton States Exposition, in Up from Slavery·September 18, 1895
38
I will not say that I became discouraged, for as I now look back over my life I do not recall that I ever became discouraged over anything that I set out to accomplish.
39
Nothing ever comes to me, that is worth having, except as the result of hard work.
40
Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.
41
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.
42
out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth
43
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed
44
My experience is that there is something in human nature which always makes an individual recognize and reward merit, no matter under what colour of skin merit is found.
45
I have begun everything with the idea that I could succeed, and I never had much patience with the multitudes of people who are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed.
46
My experience has been that the time to test a true gentleman is to observe him when he is in contact with individuals of a race that is less fortunate than his own.
47
My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings.
48
Ever since then I have had no patience with any school for my race in the South which did not teach its students the dignity of labour.
49
I want you to make up your minds that you are going to be more nearly perfect, are going to put more manly and womanly strength into the preparation of your lessons each day, that you may be more useful.
50
We cannot get upon our feet, as a people, until we learn the saving habit; until we learn to save every nickel, every dime and every dollar that we can spare.