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Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington Quotes

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Famous Booker T. Washington Quotes

“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.”

ThinkingWayDoeOrderGrowsCausesLosesForgetSuccessfulDegreesHighestProportionBeing SuccessfulUndertakings
Book:Papers: The Autobiographical Writings
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“No white American ever thinks that any other race is wholly civilized until he wears the white man’s clothes, eats the white man’s food, speaks the white man’s language, and professes the white man’s religion.”

ThinkingMenAmericaReligionSpeakLanguageWhiteRaceFoodPoliticianClothesRacismOppressionInequalityAfrican AmericanCivilizedBlack PeopleWhite ManAdvisors
Book:Three African-American Classics: Up from Slavery, The Souls of Black Folk and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”

PeopleWantAbleJobsLosesPayRaceClassTroubleHabitAdvertisingHardshipGrievanceVictimhood
Book:My Larger Education: Being Chapters from My Experience
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“In my contact with people, I find that, as a rule, it is only the little, narrow people who live for themselves, who never read good books, who do not travel, who never open up their souls in a way to permit them to come into contact with other souls – with the great outside world.”

PeopleWorldWayLittlesBookSoulContactPermitGood BookOutside World
Book:Three African-American Classics: Up from Slavery, The Souls of Black Folk and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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“Let us keep before us the fact that, almost without exception, every race or nation that has ever got upon its feet has done so through struggle and trial and persecution; and that out of this very resistance to wrong, out of the struggle against odds, they have gained strength, self-confidence, and experience which they could not have gained in any other way.”

WaySelfDoneFactsNationsRaceStruggleFeetSelf ConfidenceTrialsResistancePatriotismExceptionOddsPersecutionAgainst The Odds
Book:The Booker T. Washington Papers: 1903-4
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“There is a certain class of race problem-solvers who don't want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.”

WantWellsMeanLongProblemCertainEasyRaceLibertyClassDiseasePatientMediumsProminentGet WellMaking A LivingProblem Solvers
Book:The Booker T. Washington Reader
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“In the long run, the world is going to have the best, and any difference in race, religion, or previous history will not keep the world from what it wants.”

WorldWantLongRunningDifferencesJusticeRaceDiversitySocial JusticeLong Runs
Book:Three African-American Classics: Up from Slavery, The Souls of Black Folk and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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“Every person who has grown to any degree of usefulness, every person who has grown to distinction, almost without exception has been a person who has risen by overcoming obstacles, by removing difficulties, by resolving that when he met discouragement he would not give up.”

GivingPersonsHas BeensSuccessMetsDegreesGiving UpDeterminationOvercomingDifficultyObstaclesDistinctionExceptionNot Giving UpRisenUsefulnessDiscouragement
Book:The Booker T. Washington Reader
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