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W. E. B. Du Bois

W. E. B. Du Bois Quotes

Historian

W. E. B. Du Bois was an influential American historian, sociologist, civil rights activist, and writer. Born on February 23, 1868, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois is renowned for his advocacy for the rights of African Americans. He co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement. His seminal work, 'The Souls of Black Folk,' remains a foundational text in African American literature and thought.

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Famous W. E. B. Du Bois Quotes

“The theory of democratic government is not that the will of the people is always right, but rather that normal human beings of average intelligence will, if given a chance, learn the right and best course by bitter experience.”

People Ifs Humans Government Courses Given Chance Human Beings Theory Normal Democratic Average Bitter Democratic Government Given A Chance Bitter Experience

Book:Black Folk Then and Now (The Oxford W.E.B. Du Bois): An Essay in the History and Sociology of the Negro Race

Source: Black Folk Then and Now (The Oxford W.E.B. Du Bois): An Essay in the History and Sociology of the Negro Race

“Histories of the world omitted China; if a Chinaman invented compass or movable type or gunpowder we promptly "forgot it" and named their European inventors. In short, we regarded China as a sort of different and quite inconsequential planet.”

Ifs World Different Planets Type China Compass World History Inventor Inconsequential Gunpowder

Author:W. E. B. Du Bois

“Whether you like it or not the millions are here, and here they will remain. If you do not lift them up, they will pull you down... Education must not simply teach work - it must teach life.”

Ifs Teach Millions Teacher Teaching Lifts Working It You Like It

Book:W. E. B. Du Bois: Selections from His Writings

Source: W. E. B. Du Bois: Selections from His Writings

“I most sincerely doubt if any other race of women could have brought its fineness up through so devilish a fire.”

Ifs Black Race Doubt Fire Black Women Sincerely Devilish

Author:W. E. B. Du Bois

“If there is anybody in this land who thoroughly believes that the meek shall inherit the earth they have not often let their presence be known.”

Ifs Believe Earth Known Land Modesty Meek

Author:W. E. B. Du Bois

“The world still wants to ask that a woman primarily be pretty and if she is not, the mob pouts and asks querulously, 'What else are women for?”

Ifs World Want Stills Asks

Book:Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil

Source: Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil

“What do nations care about the cost of war, if by spending a few hundred millions in steel and gunpowder they can gain a thousand millions in diamonds and cocoa?”

Ifs War Care Nations Millions Cost Thousand Hundred Gains Spending Diamond Steel Gunpowder Cost Of War Cocoa

Author:W. E. B. Du Bois

“The function of the university is not simply to teach breadwinning, or to furnish teachers for the public schools, or to be a centre of polite society; if is, above all, to be the organ of that fine adjustment between real life and the growing knowledge of life, an adjustment from which forms the secret of civilization.”

Source: The Souls of Black Folk

“If you want to feel humor too exquisite and subtle for translation, sit invisibly among a gang of Negro workers.”

Ifs Want Feels Workers Subtle Gang Translations Exquisite

Book:Dusk of Dawn (The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois)

Source: Dusk of Dawn (The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois)

“Today I see more clearly than yesterday that the back of the problem of race and color lies a greater problem which both obscures and implements it: and that is the fact that so many civilized persons are willing to live in comfort even if the price of this is poverty, ignorance, and disease of the majority of their fellow men.”

Ifs Men Persons Facts Problem Today Lying Race Poverty Greater Ignorance Color Willing Comfort Disease Fellows Majority Yesterday Civilized Fellow Man Race And Color

Author:W. E. B. Du Bois

“Oppression costs the oppressor too much if the oppressed stands up and protests. The protest need not be merely physical-the throwing of stones and bullets-if it is mental, spiritual; if it expresses itself in silent, persistent dissatisfaction, the cost to the oppressor is terrific.”

Ifs Needs Spiritual Too Much Cost Stones Silent Oppression Protest Throwing Bullets Oppressed Persistent Terrific Dissatisfaction Oppressors

Author:W. E. B. Du Bois

“If the unemployed could eat plans and promises, they would be able to spend the winter on the Riviera.”

Ifs Would Be Able Plans Promise Winter Unemployed

Author:W. E. B. Du Bois

“We cannot escape the clear fact that what is going to win in this world is reason, if this ever becomes a reasonable world.”

Ifs World Reason Facts Winning Clear This World Reasonable

Author:W. E. B. Du Bois