Cease to be a drudge, seek to be an artist.

You white folks have long been eating the white meat of the chicken. We Negroes are now ready for some of the white meat instead of the dark meat.

Forgiving is not about forgetting, it's letting go of the hurt

The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.

The drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest while there is a single Negro boy or girl without a chance to prove his worth.

If we have the courage and tenacity of our forebears, who stood firmly like a rock against the lash of slavery, we shall find a way to do for our day what they did for theirs.

From the first, I made my learning, what little it was, useful every way I could.