Booker T. Washington was an African-American leader who is remembered for tirelessly working for the betterment of his people. From a little black boy, born as a slave, at a tobacco plantation, he went on to become the advisor of three American Presidents. Washington is also acclaimed as an author, orator and educator. The ‘Tuskegee University’ in Alabama stands as a living example to his accomplishments. His 1895 speech ‘Atlanta Compromise” made him a national figure. Since he predominantly trained blacks on vocational subjects to earn a living, people observed that he advocated the blacks as slaves to the whites. His sayings and thoughts will inspire you to leave behind the negative and chase the positive. His words and speeches, which are frequently quoted, will provide you food for thought. Though his journey was not easy, he accomplished it with sincere dedication, determination and hard work; his quotes motivate us to do the same!
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.
We all should rise, above the clouds of ignorance, narrowness, and selfishness.
Booker T. Washington
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.
Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.
Booker T. Washington
No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.
Booker T. Washington
There are two ways of exerting one's strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.
Booker T. Washington
The older I grow, the more I am convinced that there is no education which one can get from books and costly apparatus that is equal to that which can be gotten from contact with great men and women.
The thing to do when one feels sure that he has said or done the right thing and is condemned, is to stand still and keep quiet. If he is right, time will show it.
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.
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.
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.
In all my teaching I have watched carefully the influence of the tooth-brush, and I am convinced that there are few single agencies of civilization that are more far-reaching.
