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

For I am my mother's daughter, and the drums of Africa still beat in my heart.

Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.

I leave you love. I leave you hope. I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another. I leave you respect for the use of power. I leave you faith. I leave you racial dignity.

I plunged into the job of creating something from nothing.... Though I hadn't a penny left, I considered cash money as the smallest part of my resources. I had faith in a living God, faith in myself, and a desire to serve.

When they learn of Shakespeare and Goethe, we must teach them of Pushkin and Dumas. . . . Whatever the white man has done, we have done, and often better.

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