No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized.

It means a great deal, I think, to start off on a foundation which one has made for oneself.

The wisest among my race understand that agitations of social equality is the extremist folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.

Had (I) been a member of a more popular race, I should have been inclined to yield to the temptation of depending upon my ancestry and my colour to do that for me which I should do for myself. Years ago I resolved that because I had no ancestry myself I would leave a record of which my children would be proud, and which might encourage them to still higher effort

My whole life has largely been one of surprises.

You go to school, you study about the Germans and the French, but not about your own race. I hope the time will come when you study black history too.

Success waits patiently for anyone who has the determination and strength to seize it.