Success is not measured by where you are in life, but the obstacles you've over come

You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you have to overcome to reach your goals.

I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred. I resolved then that I would permit no man, no matter what his color, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

I believe that one always does himself and his audience an injustice when he speaks merely for the sake of speaking. I do not believe that one should speak unless, deep down in his heart, he feels convinced that he has a message to deliver.

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.

At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be for our race economic independence.

Never let your work drive you. Master it and keep it in complete control.